What's gnu with Slasher

Since no-one on here but Foxsydee knows me, I thought I'd put up a first post showing a little about what makes me tick.  I have the soul of an adventurer and climb mountains and rock faces whenever my schedule permits.   It makes me feel alive to climb and pit myself against a mountain.  George Mallory said it well when asked why he wanted to climb Everest.  "Because it is there", was his response.  Ed Viesturs says it a little more elequently.  "I like to test myself and discover my maximum capabilities and I can't think of a more beautiful place to learn about myself than the great mountains of the world."  Some of my friends who don't climb can't understand why I'd place myself in "danger".  I always reply that first and foremost, I'm a very conservative climber that ALWAYS has a back-up plan, and if it is indeed your time, I'd rather go out in a beautiful place than getting run over crossing the street.

So, that covers the why.  Now onto the issue at hand.

Crown Mountain Jan 26, 2008 002

Crown Mountain is a long day hike from Vancouver and is the highest point along the Vancouver skyline.  I went to climb it on Jan 26 after a week of sunshine firmed up the snowpack and reduced the avalanche danger to an acceptable level.  From where this picture is taken, I hiked down about 1000 ft into the saddle between Crown and the ridge that I was on.  Then began the long, slow and much steeper than expected ascent.  I went up the treed ridge on the right centre of the picture and once into the open snowfield near the top, began traversing left to go around the cliff band.  Although you can't tell from the pitcure, this face of the mountain is about 60 to 70 degrees steep (typically a double black diamond ski run is about 50-60 degrees).  Even with an ice axe and crampons, it feels very tenuous and a slip would undoubtedly provide a VERY quick ride to the bottom, with a high likelihood of being in several pieces.  That being said, being on the edge is waht climbing is all about!!!

Anyway, at the top of the avalanche gully in the centre of the picture, I hear a whistling noise from above me.  Instictively, I covered my head with my right arm and WHAMO, a block of ice about 8" across hits me on the point of the shoulder.  I guess it fell from the cliff above and felt like someone punched me HARD in the shoulder.  Luckily, I wasn't moving at the time (fall off the mountain) or it didn't hit a couple of inches higher in the noggin (road pizza).  This took some of the enthusiasm out of the day and I decided a retreat was in order.  Once I had feeling back in my arm (a minute or so), I began the process of downclimbing the avalanche gully.  My first thought looking down the steep gully was "holy frack, that's a loooong way down.  There's no second chances if you mess up here."  To climb down, I made a solid ice axe placement and then front-pointed two steps down, repeating the process ad naseum.  830 steps later, the slope eased off enough (45 degrees) to turn around and walk facing out.  Two hours later, I had finished the hike back to the truck and was on my way home, still in one piece and ready to climb another day.