Hoping for better weather, I made another stab for Melakwa Lake this season. The weather was better, so this time I made it.
Temperature at the trail head was 33° around 11 o’clock. No snow till the rock slide. Started to get intermittent approaching Keekwulee. The talus fields in the switchbacks before were clear enough to run the talus, which I like to do. The first real sketchy spot was the avalanche chute just before Keekwulee.
The snow is starting to get intermittent between Keekwulee Falls and snowshoe Falls. I made it past the third crossing without traction, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Just put them on, made it so much nicer. Traction and trail runners were fine. Snow is hard packed the whole way , maybe 6 inches at the top. There was an inch of what I thought was fresh snow at the top, but I think it was actually blown off hoar frost off the trees.
From what I could tell, only five people made it to the lake that day. One dude tried to climb Kaletan peak, turned back due to conditions. I get that: thin snow over rotten rock is not fun.
What I was not expecting, was a full show at the lake. Kyle apparently had been watching for a decade to see if winter conditions were right and he could skate on the lake. Take a look at the picture and decide for yourself.
Had a great safety plan, and most importantly, had an idea of what was going to be ago, and what was going to be a no go. Lotta fun to watch.
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