Today Fred Heikoop, Brandon Gulstene and I did a lap down the south aspect of Observation Sub Peak from the summit.
The access via the south ridge to the summit is in great shape, we only took our skis off once to gain a rocky section which seemed easier than it would have been with skins. The final summit ridge now has a large overhanging cornice, we were able to skin along the windward side (there was a previous skin track near the highpoint of this cornice). The top few meters off the summit is a bit rocky but after that the fall line coverage is good. The top steeper section had a bit of snow over a supportive solar crust and the bottom half of the upper face was in excellent powder skiing condition. We took the skier’s bottom left run from the large flat area, this section was probably the best for snow/turns. Once at the bottom we skied the flat alpine valley over to the treeline glades and again skied amazing snow back to our skin track leading out via the Cirque Forepeak forest area. The exit is still thin but there seems to be more traffic going out this way and there are plenty of packed down options currently.
Cold to start at the road but it warmed up at treeline. Mostly sunny with very little wind except at and near the summit where a bitter cold wind was freezing us to the bone. Clouds moving real fast above us and now it seems like the wind has dropped down into the valleys (tonight in Lake Louise anyway).
