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Fairy Meadows Ski TripMarch 30 - April 6, 2002Photo Gallery - April 4 |
Tour to Great Cairn Hut ! With the great conditions continuing I talked Iain into making the tour to the Great Cairn hut. (Actually, I needed somebody the break trail through all the new snow :) This is called a "big day" and indeed it was. One summer our group had hiked out of Great Cairn via Fairy Meadows so I had done the route once in summer in the reverse direction. We were picked up by Alpine Helicopter from Great Cairn on fly-out day, and since it is more or less on the way they didn't charge is anything extra. However, we did prepare (minimally) for falling short of the hut due to any reason (such as wx, fatigue, injury, etc) and carried a Megamid for shelter and a small Svea stove, and probably some other things as well. We also took my VHF radio. |
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Going to Thor Pass - see Apr 01. On the right is a view of Silvertip near Great Cairn, the hut is off to the left and below. The entire left shoulder of Silvertip had avalanched as evidenced by the crown line we could make out from afar. |
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Some more of Thor Pass. The left photo shows Palisade Mountain with the Palisade Glacier to its right. This is a common travel route to/from the Great Cairn hut which is just off the left side and below. We rappeled part of Thor Pass through some deep soft snow, sticking to a rocky rib. In retrospect this seemed unnecessary but we felt better doing it at the time. |
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On the left is the view back up Thor Pass from the Thor Glacier at its base. Then Iain is starting down the margin of Thor glacier, skiing with a fair size pack. On the right he is at the base where we crossed the flats at the bottom of the Adamant Glacier. |
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After crossing the Adamant Glacier flats we climbed onto the crest of Azimuth Ridge. A fairly short climb up, but the other side which is the last drop down to the hut is a long way down. The right photo looks down to the vicinity of the hut. |
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Left - descending the south facing side of Azimuth Ridge, on which there had been wet slides earlier in the day. Now it was crusting over - and breakable. But stable again anyway. |
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This panorama is from the Azimuth Ridge side of the Adamant Glacier flats, looking back at the main Adamant Peaks, Thor Glacier, and Thor Pass. |
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