Central BC Windy Ridge March 7 2009

A bluebird day brought us back to Windy Ridge. This time we were hoping to enjoy the 15cms new that had fallen last night while getting in a tour up the ridge above Windy Point and over to the Johnson Glacier into some beautiful looking NE facing glaciers. Unfortunately, as we got to the Strohn Creek parking lot we could see that we were up Strohn Creek without a paddle; as fierce NE winds blew plumes off snow off ridgetops and raked anything in the alpine (in Stewart, alpine starts at about 600m)

We headed over the swamp/lake hoping that we could at least get some good views in the alpine

The point at the top of the picture is where a MOTH emergency shelter is located. This is where howitzers blast to keep the road safe!

Heading up the same route as yesterday we quickly found that the wind had indeed taken care of pow as soon as we left the friendly trees. We pressed on though as views were getting more and more spectacular.

Getting into alpine.

Some hardy trees here grew past 800m!

Linda with Meziadin Ridge ins the background

Not much trail-breaking – the snow has been transported

Sharon in her coccoon of warmth with Meziadin Lake stretching away to the east behind and below her

Finally we crest the ridge and make our way to the MOTH repeater close to a Last Frontier Heli pad. We’re at 2000m. In the coast most of this tour would have been spent fighting through brush and chokes of slash. Here we were in alpine a good part of the way. Glaciers, summits and icefields stretch as far as the eye can see. Truly a magical place – and shaded from the evil N cold wind.