Cold Fusion Solo

Seccond Chances

I have wanted to ski this line for a long time, years earlier I had the opportunity to ascend the couloir but snow conditions caused us to ski the "Forked Tongue Couloir" instead. Since then the thought has not gone away. The Cold Fusion Couloir is a very large avalanche path, that is not safely ski-able through most of the winter. So when spring arrived this year, I was again looking at it and dreaming.
The idea was to approach using my Mountain Bike, carrying skis, poles and crampons. I would then ascend and ski it solo.

Excellent Conditions

A 6:30 am start may have been a bit late, but I did not feel to bad about it thinking that the snow would likely be consolidated "Summer Snow". After arriving at the gully where it crosses the Timpanooke Road, I made the transition from bike to skis. This is where the fun begins. The angle here is rather low, so skinning was easy and the gully was relatively clear of brush. About an hour later the angle steepened to the point of making the skinning difficult, so it was time for the crampons. They may not have been absolutely necessary, but due the the steepness and length of the couloir, I felt a bit safer using them.

The False Summit

At 11:30 am, I arrived at the false summit, this is where I will ski from today as there is not enough snow on the true North Summit.

A short rest

I love to take time to look around and just absorb the Summit of any peak, this one is no exception. After a few minutes, the clouds start to move in, bringing back memories of other summits turning into white outs. Fortunately this time the clouds are moving fast, and not staying around.

3000 feet of fall line turns later

After a short rest and a little lunch, it was time for more fun. From the top, the skiing was good, once into the couloir proper, the snow was a little wetter, after a few turns a small wet avalanche started but it was not to much of a concern. I don't know how many turns were made, but there were plenty and each was worth the effort.

A Goal Finally Atained

Now I'm glad I made the effort to ride my bike, it should be a nice cruise back to the parking lot. And as expected, it was.

Images

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