Crowfoot Pass

Our continuing search for powder led us to Crowfoot Pass.

Crowfoot Pass is definitely one of the better effort-to-reward ratio areas in terms of views and a relaxing day out. With smart navigation, you can pretty much eliminate all avalanche concerns, and there are even a few turns to be had on the way back out.

A view of Cirque Peak (left) and Dolomite Peak (centre)

When the sun was out, it felt like a summer day. Most of the big cornices off of Crowfoot Mountain had already fallen, but we witnessed a few failures, none of them quite reaching anyone's uptracks.

Debris from a recent cornice failure

The snow below the pass was a little moist, but still very manageable, and made for easy skinning. Crossing the Bow River also wasn't an issue, but I can't see that being true for much longer. Even this far up and north, things are melting at a very quick rate.

Last little bit to the pass

The pass itself was very thin in terms of snow, with numerous rocks and even some vegetation sticking out. We saw a set of tracks leading up all the way to the summit of Bow Peak, probably from sometime in the middle of the week. I'll have to remember to give that a try next season.

Our lunch spot, with a great view of collapsing cornices

Throughout the day, we heard the distinct CRACKs of cornice failures 3 times. Each time, I looked up to see the plumes of snow and debris rolling down the slopes, but not the actual chunk of snow slamming into the ledges below.

Savouring the last bit of powder

The ski out was quite good, with only one small section requiring a re-skin. I got a nice raccoon tan, to augment the one from the previous weekend.

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/171191116/3101909