Surprise Pass

Not great conditions up Surprise Pass, around 10cm of new snow on top of a very icy crust. We made it pretty close to the pass, but turned around as we hadn't packed the crampons. Given the ice we have found on South aspects on fairview, it's a safe assumption that the bootpack up the back of surprise will be just as icy. Hopefully the snow this weekend will improve conditions, but it's not going to bond well to the icy crust below. It was snowing steadily all morning, amounting to around 5cm with terrible vis.