Kahuna via east ridge & Bryant couloir via the west

<p>After an extended period of improving stability and little new snow we felt happy stepping into steeper, more committing ski lines today. With clouds and flurries forecast in the afternoon we got an early start up the east ridge of Fraser Peak. Air temperatures remained cold but solar input was strong and hard surfaces on east and south facing slopes were gradually softening throughout the morning. We used ski crampons to cross some steeper solar slopes before booting to the peak. The 'Big Kahuna' on Fraser's north face had a few cm of wind blown new snow overlying a variety of hard surfaces - with some manageable sloughing in the steep entrance and mid-slope convexity - soft turns in places & semi-consistent, leg-burning but enjoyable skiing to valley floor. Once back on the lake we decided to complete a horseshoe tour and investigate solar aspects off the high ridge that runs along the north side of Bryant Lake. Surfaces on solar aspects were still hard climbing up and ski crampons were nice-to-have. The weather arrived right on cue just in time for us to scrape our way down the day's 2nd couloir in fairly challenging ski conditions and rapidly deteriorating light. The east face of Fraser was on its way to softening up in the morning, but that corn harvest will have to wait until we get warmer weather.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Steep slopes.

Snow Conditions

Hard, Wind affected.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Sunny, Windy.