Mt Thompson - 5/14/10

[d_mingori]

Today, Jon and I skied out of South Lake, in the direction of Mt Thompson. The plan was to ski the Moynier Couloir, as we have heard it can fill in and become skiable on occasion.

Crossing South Lake:


He brought sandwiches:


As we arrived beneath the rock face, we realized that the Moynier Couloir isn't actually the ski line.
Well, not this year at least. It was choked with rock and ice, while the line just next to it was filled in.

First view of our destination:



The snow looked a little wind affected, and I wasn't interested in dropping into it from the top without knowing what conditions were like, so we climbed up, hoping to find a way through the cornice at the top.







At the top of the couloir we dropped our stuff and continued on to the summit.

A nice view of Point Powell from the top:


And an even better view of our line:


The clouds were starting to build so we headed back to our stuff and waited for some breaks of sunshine to ski.....

Dropping in:


Jon broke a ski pole on the approach, in case you're wondering what that antenna is on his pack. So he had to borrow one of mine for the descent. I guess snowboarders are good for SOMETHING.

getting past the rocks:






And on to the lower crux:



and we got out just as the clouds moved over us again: