This morning my partner and I climbed Mt Begbie via the East Col, then skied down the NE Face.

We found good hiking conditions up to 1700m (only post-holed once or twice), then used a combination of skins and boot crampons to get to the summit, mostly on snow with short sections of rock.

In the alpine it's getting close to a summer snowpack. Despite not having a freeze last night, we weren't sinking in more than 15cm on skis, 15-30cm on foot (except in isothermal shallow rocky areas), and pole probing was usually 10-30cm. Snow was sticky to ski, except where the surface snow had been sluffed off.

Below tree-line it felt like a summer snowpack, only sinking in up to 5cm. Below 1650m it was mostly dirt.

The scramble above the East Col is getting more difficult with continued snow and glacier melting, now requiring some 5th class moves after you cross a bergschrund looking sag I don't remember seeing before. When rappelling, 2 x 30m ropes barely get you to the snow from the bolted station, so I'd recommend bringing some longer ropes or be prepared to rappel off a single bolt.

We ski cut a size 1.5 loose wet avalanche high on the NE Face, which ran over the cliffs (about 300m total).

All things considered a great day of ski mountaineering.

Alex Geary
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide