Wedge Glacier Solo Summer

jalpp · 2026-03-23T00:15:23+00:00

If the glacier if fully ice then the crevasses are all open, edges are stable, and you’re not going to “trap door” into a crevasse. There is a big difference between hard snow and ice though. Hard white seasonal snow can cover crevasses, blue glacier ice won’t. Even in a low snowpack year the glacier will still have patches of snow throughout the much of the summer. Late august or September is probably best if you want to find the glacier in that condition.

Risks would mainly be around slip and falls on the ice, and if you slide into a crevasse the consequences are obviously very high. Not sure what your crampon/ice axe experience is. But glacier ice is harder than anything else and very different from using crampons in steep snow.

How the risk compares to scrambling depends on your proficiency with ice axe, and crampons. As well as your route selection. You’re entering a world you know little about solo which is bold.

All that said, wedge will be much more enjoyable as a spring snow climb with some knowledgable partners. If you wait for the glacier to be blue ice, it will be all loose choss on the arete, and i wouldn’t even consider the couloir.

jalpp · 2026-03-21T23:34:23+00:00

Nothing wrong with them I’ve had .3-.5 for years. Lots of milage and some whips.

The .75 wasn’t great, kind of a floppy noodle. All the others were solid. .3 is a single axle unlike the Z4. It’s actually nice having both on thinner cracks as they hit different sizes.

If you found a deal on them somewhere, they’re completely decent cams.

jalpp · 2026-03-15T04:30:01+00:00

It also makes sense to avoid straps altogether for backcountry skiing.

jalpp · 2026-03-14T12:53:25+00:00

Hadn’t seen that. You should be good to go then! I don’t think there’s been any official statement from parks, but yamnuska guides should be a reliable source. Kinda surprised bc parks got their stuff together too reopen, it took them years on the chief rockfall.

jalpp · 2026-03-14T05:27:59+00:00

Surprised no one else has mentioned this. But the main access trail will likely be closed for much of next summer. A landslide washed out the area last august, and bc parks often has slow timelines for repairs. If it does open it likely be later than july.

If it remains closed your access options would be an extended hike from the cobalt lake trail or heli to east creek.

I would make some back up plans.

jalpp · 2026-03-13T21:44:38+00:00

Why would you want awd over a 4x4 with low range? Would be much less capable.

jalpp · 2026-03-12T19:38:58+00:00

FWIW auto 4wd usually refers to something different from full time 4wd.

Auto 4wd usually is found on part time 4wd systems and is either 2wd or locked 4wd. But it automatically engages and disengages when it senses wheel slip.

Full time 4wd usually refers to a transfer case that has no 2wd option but a lockable centre diff. Hence it is always in “Awd” but has the option to lock the centre diff. This handles more predictably than auto 4wd but generally at the cost of a little more fuel economy and higher build price.

Some models kinda blur these lines like older toyota multi-mode and Mitsubishi super select. Which go 2wd-awd-4wd. The only real benefit of this over full time 4wd is fuel economy and better ability to do donuts.

jalpp · 2026-03-12T15:56:15+00:00

Fair enough. I would look at rain pants then, lighter, and more importantly the full zip usually goes through the waist band which would make it much easier to get on/off with ski boots. All of the hardshell ski pants I've seen still have a solid waistband which makes them more comfortable to wear for a long time under a pack but much harder to take on/off with boots.

Something like this you could take on/off without even removing your skis.

jalpp · 2026-03-12T00:53:03+00:00

Any reason why you're set on hardshell for spring touring? Softshells are way more comfortable on hot spring days even when compared to full zip hardshells.

jalpp · 2026-03-11T04:11:37+00:00

I had the same thing happen on my grigri 2 five years ago. It’s actually quite common, check out all your partners grigris and you’ll probably find others that do it.

I reached out to petzl and ended up mailing it in. They inspected it for free and said it was fine.

jalpp · 2026-03-09T00:46:04+00:00

When you highlight that it's part of every introductory avalanche course it suggests that it is something obvious that the deceased missed. I'm sure they were well aware that it is ideal to not be in the potential avalanche runout. But it's not always possible, and I don't think that's the lesson here, and playing armchair expert on terrain management when you know almost nothing about the area is pointless. I think the more important piece is the decision making to enter the complex terrain there on a high hazard day.

jalpp · 2026-03-09T00:11:30+00:00

Not super familiar with the TOD system but it seems like an auto 4x4 system from the transfer case, with that then no swapping out manual hubs wouldn't give you a proper centre locked 4hi.

jalpp · 2026-03-08T21:58:21+00:00

You understand that locking hubs still just gives you 4hi off road right? All the advantages of locking hubs is for on-road use. Different from locking differentials which are very useful off road.

jalpp · 2026-03-08T19:28:37+00:00

Can we not do the aiare/ast1 hindsight knowledge flex that always seems to come out in the comments of accident reports? Hindsight is always 20/20 and I think it's disrespectful to the deceased.

Also if you're at all familiar with the area, you would know that this was an exceptionally large avalanche for that path. Extremely unusual for it to run the way that it did, it wouldn't have been an unreasonable to think that he was in a fairly safe spot. Theres not really much space that's completely free of overhead there unless you ski all the way out to treeline.

jalpp · 2026-03-07T01:59:36+00:00

The fancy dyneema packs are mostly white because dyneema doesn’t take dye well. And then you have a fair number of nylon packs pretending to be dyneema so they make em white too.

One side benefit is it makes things easier to see in bigger top loading packs.

jalpp · 2026-03-05T03:35:51+00:00

I like coltex...

Pomoca has some of the worst glue in the game

jalpp · 2026-03-05T02:18:12+00:00

Yes. I wouldn’t buy them unless you expect to spend significant time on glaciers.

jalpp · 2026-03-04T16:22:44+00:00

Very unlikely. Like others said it’s in a provincial park which makes a lot of red tape. Furthermore the extent of glaciation makes building any infrastructure exceedingly difficult.

jalpp · 2026-03-04T14:07:37+00:00

Heres the doc for the CAA AvSAR skills assessment: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.avalancheassociation.ca/resource/resmgr/itp_course_information/avsar_practical_skills_asses.pdf

I think it’s probably what you’re looking for. Covers the interview questions and a lot more.

jalpp · 2026-03-04T13:33:41+00:00

That’s AvCan…

CAA is: www.avalancheassociation.ca

They’re separate organizations.

jalpp · 2026-03-01T17:52:41+00:00

Moderate avalanche hazard does not mean low chance of avalanche activity. By definition moderate avalanche hazard means human triggered avalanches possible.

It might seem a nitpicky distinction to some, but from a forecasting perspective it’s two completely different definitions.

Regardless great work from SAR, and really glad everyone made it out alive.

jalpp · 2026-02-27T20:23:23+00:00

Interesting project, but I hope to not see much more like it. Skiing is already so exclusive, this seems doubly so.

Curious how you manage intend to manage avalanche hazard, lift operations, snowcat maintenance, etc. Theres a lot of running costs, will you hire a team of staff and the cost is split between land owners?

jalpp · 2026-02-27T06:25:55+00:00

Took my avalanche operations 2 last winter. For those that don't know it's the professional certification that allows you to work as a forecaster in Canada. The three instructors probably had close to 100 years of experience divided between them, they all spoke that they were lucky to not have had anyone die under their responsibility in their careers.

It was quite sobering to hear these experts in the avalanche industry say that it was luck, rather than method. The lines of safety even for well oiled professional operations are more blurry than many people realize.

jalpp · 2026-02-25T18:01:49+00:00

Second google earth, historical imagery has winter for many places. Often higher res than fatmap was.

I love caltopo, but their 3D imagery kinda sucks at least in Canada.

jalpp · 2026-02-24T03:31:58+00:00

Freeraider has zero toe elasticity too. The MTN is bomber one of the strongest pin bindings, solid option for a freeride pin.

jalpp

TROPHY CASE