On so many of these trips through the mountains I find myself hauling around gear that doesn’t get used: crampons, ice-axe, harness, rope, avalanche transceiver, probe, goggles, and I’m all for leaving them behind in the interests of light and fast travel (we actually decided to leave the climbing gear with a friend when we reached the Fairy Meadows Cabin- thanks Pete). We did get to use our crampons on this fairly technical log crossing at the confluence of Ursus and Mountain creeks. That’s Andrew demonstrating a slow and precise technique. Trevor, revealing an easy familiarity with crampons, casually walked across, while Dan, a little shook-up from an impromptue dip in Ursus creek, teetered across under our rivited attention.
Further up Mountain creek (and on several other occasions during the trip) we had opportunity to work on our creek jumping technique. Here’s Dan showing fine form, eyes focused on the landing, arms and leading leg extended, although he probably should have remembered to throw his backpack over before jumping.
kootenayskier 