Yukon

Nice day to finish off our seasonn. Near the dropped pin we felt several whumps and shooting cracks. South slopes are getting enough sun that there are some bare patches here and there. Overall, conditions were okay and a half but pretty good for spring skiing.

A group of 6 ACC members spent the week from April 19 - April 26, 2025 on the Eclipse Glacier between Donjek and Badham Mountains. Temperatures ranged from -10 to -26°C. We had about 10-15cm of snow fall throughout the week, with generally a couple cm each day coming down with light - moderate North West to South West winds. Visibility varied throughout the week - some mornings we started out with clear skies and had clouds rolling in on us midday, obscuring visibility and had us skiing or walking home in whiteout conditions (with compass in hand). Other mornings we woke up to low vis and had a slow start, with the clouds clearing late morning - early afternoon and bringing sunny and warm conditions. Throughout the week we saw evidence of several Wind Slab avalanches, size 1- 2 in lee features (N - E), down 20-50cm, as well as several Persistent Slab avalanches size 2-3 on NW - E slopes down 50-150cm. We also saw evidence of several serac/ice fall. Wind exposed slopes (SW-SE) were generally wind scoured, with exposed ice to ridgetop on many slopes. Lower angle slopes held snow well, whereas slopes above 30° were shallow and we found 10-25cm of wind-pressed snow over a 1-2cm crust and facets/depth hoar NW - NE slopes were generally wind-loaded, with 5-10cm of new snow, and 20-50cm of Wind Slab in immediate lee features, and a PWL consisting of facets (2mm) and surface hoar (3mm) down 110cm. We dug a Test Pit on a NE slope just below ridgetop at 3190m, and found a Persistent Weak Layer, with CTH30 (RP) down 110cm (HS 460+, 25° slope angle). At the start of the trip we practiced Companion Rescue/Transceiver searching, and Crevasse Rescue including building snow anchors and 3:1, 5:1, 6:1 mechanical advantage systems, to ensure we would be able to rescue each other in the event of a crevasse fall or avalanche. We roped up for all non-avalanche terrain glacier travel, belayed across 2 bergschrunds, put boot crampons on for bootpacking, short pitched one steep section of exposed rock and roped up for ridge travel to protect against crevasse fall.