Jeff Campbell

Yesterday, Andy Burr and I set out at 5 am with multiple goals on Thunder Ridge, in Hogum Fork. Depending on conditions, we were thinking of skiing either the Dresden Face, or Montgomery's, a tight chute with a 75' rap in the middle. To give ourselves both options, I hauled a 50m line, an ice tool w/ a hammer, and a small rack of stoppers since the anchor in Montgomery's is reportedly pretty sketch. However, this slowed me down considerably, and we didn't reach the col on the North Ridge of the Pfeiferhorn until 8:15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some great views of upper Hogum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And our potential objectives. A: Montgomery's    B: Dresden Face. Since we were running late and didn't want to be dropping into the exposure in Montgomery's we went for Option B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We skied down to the base of the Needle and skinned/booted our way to the top of Thunder Ridge. By this time, the sun was in FULL force. We saw active rollerballs while in the Needle and begain to think Dresden would be toast as well.

As we reached the top, our optimism perked up when we saw the upper 2/3's of the Dresden Face void of any wet activity. We chopped part of a cornice which only resulted in rollerballs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided that we could do a ski-cut on the due-East aspect and retreat to the skiers right which was northeast facing. We planned to ski the NE aspect to minimize the chances of wet activity.This resulted in a small wet slough which quickly entrained a large mass of snow and broadened out to 200 ft wide and ran the full track, approx 2000 ft.

 

Ski Cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide Run Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to ski the NE aspect as planned without incident. Even though the slide had scoured most of the snow from the 1st choke, it was still easy to get around.

 

Burr checking it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second choke was more scoured and a little more involved. A little monkeying around and we got it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The debris pile was humbling to say the least. It stood at least 15 ft deep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up the toe to the starting zone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a firm believer of the "Best avalanche is the one you DON'T start".This slide would have been unsurvivable. For a party to negotiate the 2 chokes, conduct a search, and even begin to dig in under 15 min, would have been unrealistic, let alone dig through the debris in time, even if a victim didn't sustain significant trauma during the slide. For this route, when McClean says "Make sure conditions are welded" he means it!

I'm glad that nothing traumatic happened and am evaluating our decision making process through-out the day to understand where I can improve. Things we should have done differently are:

 

1. Ditched the rack and rope to go light and fast.

2. Started earlier.

3. After seeing active roller-balls on a similar aspect and elevation, skied Coalpit or a ridge down for our exit.