North Ridge above Duffy Lake

Riding quality was:

Terrible

The day was:

• Sunny
• Warm

Avalanche conditions

• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Having climbed to 1870m on the North side of Duffy Lake in a casual run up an unorthodox route towards Hurley Silver Mine peak, we stopped to investigate some glide cracks in the gulley adjacent to our up track. Glide cracks have been prevalent since the early season high on many south facing slopes throughout the Duffy corridor, and this was the first time we’d gotten close to one. There was a 3 meter glide opening and the slab below had bunched up and twisted into what looked like a deformed croissant with a big curly flake coming off it. As we were looking this weird snow formation, a loud detonation across the valley startled the bejeebers out of us and we realized that the main gulley from Blowdown Peak was literally being blown to pieces by Highways avy crew in a helicopter. On the second detonation the curly piece of the croissant(the size of a sofa) fell off and trundled down the gulley like a little funicular tram headed down its track. After the 4th bomb blast, the entire slab released to the wet smooth grassy ground, and chased its little offspring down the gulley, leaving us with our jaws on the ground as we watched the heavy wet mayhem in the gulley below.

Might be a good weekend to forget you are a skier, and relocate the spiders in the trad rack.