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Crossing this snow bowl is a simple matter of contouring around it.
We aimed for the upper, narrow, part of the tongue of rock sticking
down from the pinnacle at the corner of the SE Glacier. The stretch
of rock was short enough to hop over in a few steps without removing
our crampons, saving precious minutes. We then went
around the pinnacle and over that ridge of snow which drifts
diagonally down to the right edge of the photo. This year, the face
of the ridge was quite steep, about 50 degrees, so a modicum of
caution is warranted. Still, there is plenty of snow runout on
which to arrest if you do slip out. Just be prepared!
Not visible, but to the left of this photo, another band of snow goes up and through a notch on the uphill side of the pinnacle. Jason wondered whether it might be better to go up instead of straight across. I cautioned him that the drifting patterns inside the bowl of the SE Glacier might cause some problems, and it turns out my assessment was exactly correct. As we topped the ridge of snow, we could see down on the south margin of the SE Glacier and noted that there was a near-vertical face of snow some 20 to 30 feet tall between the upper band of snow and the glacier itself. Going that way would not have worked well this year! |