Carnage is the only word to capture what I saw today while ascending Connaught ck to Balu Pass.
Difficult to describe with words(sorry no photos phone was in pack), but during our ascent of the drainage, there were few short lived moments when we were not travelling over awkward avalanche debris all the way to the base of Balu Pass (and out again!). I am guessing(and based on reports) most of these avalanches ran during the storm on Saturday and Sunday morning.
Features that had released were numerous and large (all size 3.5 -4)
- Cheops North 1, Cheops North 2 aka Chromosones, Cheops North 3, Cheops North 4 aka STS, Grizzly Slide Path, 8812 Bowl where debris ran well downstream.
Of note are the features that have not yet released – specifically “Frequent Flyer” and Cheops North 5(which has monstrous cornices looming above) – something we were keeping in mind while making route decisions today.
This is the largest cycle I have ever seen in my 43 years of walking up this valley – it truly underlines how this is a “Go” “No Go” piece of serious avalanche terrain.
I am so grateful that no one was involved in any of these events given the significant number of people who were out and about that day.