KJC and K-Country Touring

Boy it's been a busy few days.  I went down to the mountains again for the Ken Jones Classic skimo race, did a quick touring run through K-country and then got some mid-week ice climbing in.  Solid time!

Ken Jones Classic
I was pretty optimistic about this race, mostly because I'd be rocking the new ski setup which is waaay lighter than my first set of touring skis.  TLT 5's, Mustaghs and Plum Guides make for a much lighter and easier to use system, so I was hoping to do quite a bit better than I did in Nelson.

We rode the lifts up to the mid-mountain lodge and I went for a quick warm-up walk.  When I did this in Nelson, I could already feel the legs complaining about the heavy boards they had to move.  This time, I felt fresh and efficient.  Good stuff.  The race got off and I started slowly as usual, soon finding the group I was with too slow.  I passed the 3 nat. team ladies nearby and pushed myself on the groomers up to the top of Whitehorn.  I had to hammer through the steeper bits but it felt pretty good up to that point.  I managed to keep pace with one of the nat. team guys up ahead, keeping a good distance back but at least not losing time.

I transitioned pretty well and dropped into F-Gully.  The legs were still OK, but skiing those TLT5's without the tongues was a challenge.  The boot flexes back quite a bit so trying to lift the ski tips took extra effort and planning.  Here I got passed by a dude on Fritshis and Titans.  Confidence shattered.

I came up to the transition with the overzealous cowbell guy, and headed up the second climb.  Here I was still ahead of the 3 nat. team ladies but the dude on Titans was slowly pulling away.  Looking back I probably could have hammered hard here but I didn't want to flash and crash.  Up to the top of Brown Shirt, then down the sunny gully to the third climb.  This is where I got passed by all 3 nat. team girls.  They transitioned faster than me and I let them by not wanting to jump in the middle of a catfight.  I kept pace behind the slowest and here is where the faster two opened up a gap.  I passed the slower one at the start of the bootpack where she was crushing some drink and climbed up to the top.  I was pretty average on the bootpack.  Back down Brown Shirt, I skied like a man possessed and almost crashed with some of the public on my way to the Temple Lodge.

I transitioned slowly, then got moving through the trees.  This part of the course pissed me off, really flat and bushy which meant that I didn't really want to get moving fast.  The slowest nat. team girl caught me here and I let her by, but I held on.  Eventually the track started to go up and so I put down the pedal.  Starting to bonk but so near the finish, I didn't want to stop and rehydrate or fuel up.  The chick left the transition as I got there, but I caught her on the way down and got by in the moguls.  Here I flashed the mogul technique and pulled away a bit, then tucked and skated out to the finish at the base area.

I finished 11th out of 13 men, so hugely disappointed.  The people I was battling with should not have been my competition.  I need to up the fitness overall, so some midweek activity is planned for the future.  So far I've been a couch potato all week and only gotten out on the weekends, that has to change.

K-Country
Sunday Pete and I headed down the Spray Lakes Road to Hero Knob and did the loop.  Great weather with perfectly clear skies.  The sun did beat down on us in the bowl on the S side of the col, which acted like a dish and baked us.  We took the ridge to the col which I think is far safer, and after a bit of pit digging, dropped into the N side for a nice run down and out.  Lots of cool terrain out there and if we had more time, I would have liked to do some explor8ion.

Pete near the Hero Knob col.

St. Patty's on the Wapta

Following reading week, the avy conditions turned to absolute garbage.  I took a weekend off and did some XC skiing (the one and only day of the season), and then the next weekend did some touring around Taylor and Tryst.  Having my new skis mounted up meant that I could finally keep up with some faster guys and not feel like I was lugging around 100 pounds on my feet.  Still, it also means that I am not getting the same workout from a day of skiing.  The avy conditions stayed pretty nasty though, so we were playing relatively safe and not really going after anything.

Pete heading up Panorama Ridge near Taylor Lake

This past weekend, though, it was time for the one ACC trip that I committed to leading this winter.  I planned it out so that I had a minimum of workload surrounding it, and it ended up coinciding with St. Patrick's Day.  I got 6 spots at the Bow Hut, and over the weekend, the typical ACC bunch plus Niall from the UAOC and Chris (a new guy soon to be confused with Frenchie) got together for a weekend on the icefield.

Saturday morning we left the hostel early and tried to get moving quickly.  The pace was pretty slow while we waited for some straggling members of the group, but we hit the hut in about 3 hours which wasn't horrible.  We stopped for a bit and tried to get a fire started with the wet wood, and then decided to try our luck with some turns on the glacier.  It was a pretty heavy whiteout so we didn't stay out too long, making only one run.  As soon as we got back and all unpacked though, the weather cleared so Niall and me headed out and made a couple more runs on the steeper portion of the glacier.  Although that run is pretty over-hyped, I will admit that it makes for some good wiggle turns with a view.  We were eating supper by 6 and soon broke out the booze.  Most of the participants had overpacked, and not just with clothing!

Christophe and JP at the top of the steep pitch below the hut.  Typical Wapta conditions...

A GSA apostle arrived at the hut!

A selection of St. Patty's drink.  Note the Pil-can on the left, a Manitoban influence?

There were only 12 of us in the hut that night so we enjoyed the free space, and although a storm raged over night, the next morning dawned perfectly clear.  The first thing that I noticed with the clear weather was the presence of a huge crown on the serac which threatens the approach route and sympathetic releases on the moraines below.  Parks Mtn Safety rated the slide at size 3.0, and it covered our ascent tracks.  That sure is a reminder to move fast through that section, and if it's being actively wind loaded, perhaps abandon the approach.  After a quick breakfast we headed for the St. Nic/Olive col and worked our way up St. Nic.  It was a bit spooky with the freshly loaded slopes primed below, and I made my best effort to reduce the chance of being dragged off the ridge by any potential slides.

The upper crown below the serac.  It sure dug down deep.  This photo does not show the full extent of the slide.

Morning light on St. Nic

Our Nelsonite friends heading for the Balfour Hut

The most overly photographed part of the Wapta

Moving along towards the col.  Trailbreaking here turned quite deep!

At the col, with Olive behind

I didn't get any summit shots (it was pretty crowded) but here's the other rope team coming back to the col.

Based on the pace of the group, it didn't seem suitable to go up Olive as planned, so instead we lapped the glacier again before picking up our gear from the hut and heading out.  Again, the pace of our slowest members reared its head and we ended up at the parking lot two hours after we planned.  I didn't really expect the exit to take very long, even for novices, but I'll have to keep that in mind next time.  Oh well, there's nothing quite like getting back home past midnight...

Chris carves some nice powder above the hut.

Niall caught this one of me skiing below St. Nic.  Unfortunately the blue sky had left us by now.