Gertrude Saddle / Barrier Knob

David invited me to repeat the Gertrude Saddle trip today.

The forecast was perfect, and the avalanche forecast OK too, so I managed to rearrange work a bit and agreed to go. Jim Spencer (avalanche forecaster) said he would follow us as he had to get kids off to school before leaving town.

We headed out of the carpark in beautiful weather - shirtsleeves with layers in the rucsac.

The lower valley was clear of snow. We hit the snow just after crossing the waterfall (see map). A pause here whilst David put on skis, boots and ski-skins. I changed layering and set off, initially without crampons as the snow was pretty soft. I was immediately "post-holing" - breaking through the crust of snow. I stopped to don crampons. They didn't help the "post-holing" and David quickly overtook me and disappeared up the hill.

Dilys decided that David's pace was much more fun, and stuck with David. Pretty much every step I took, I broke through the crust. Sometimes only to mid-calf, sometimes to knee deep. It was slow and tiring going.

David and Dilys waited for me after a short while, but as soon as I was within shouting distance I told David to just carry on at his own pace - I was so slow that he wouldn't get much done if he waited for me all the time. Dilys still thought David's pace was more interesting, so off they went, and I continued my slow, exhausting progress.

At Black Lake I had a short break and a bite to eat, then followed David's tracks across the lake. That was the only short section where I didn't break through the crust. I glanced up at the ridge above Gertrude Saddle and caught sight of Dilys and David heading up towards Barrier Knob.

I was still almost swimming uphill through the soft snow. I was expecting Jim to come skiing past me at any point. I hauled my way up to Gertrude Saddle, spotting Jim below me just before I crested the ridge onto the saddle, where I gratefully sat myself on a rock to take a rest and refuel.

Shortly after I got there I spotted David and Dilys coming down off the summit of Barrier Knob; David skiing well in good snow (for skiing) and Dilys almost keeping up.

After a little discussion at the saddle, we realised Jim wasn't coming all the way up to the saddle, so we headed down to him. It was nearly 2:00pm, and the sun had softened the snow even more. For a short section I was able to glissade on my bum, but the snow was so soft & heavy I could only slide on the steepest sections. Met up with Jim and David at Black Lake, and then the three of them (Jim, David & Dilys) powered off down the hill. I was post-holing even deeper now - at times up to my crotch. Slow progress, even downhill, and attempting to keep the pace up (so as not to keep Jim and David waiting too long) was pretty tiring. Dilys waited for me for the last couple of kilometers, which was nice. I caught up with David at the "transition" - he was just strapping his skis and boots to the outside of his rucsac. Jim had got organised more quickly and had carried on. We moved more quickly though and caught Jim about halfway down the valley. A relaxed stroll out down the valley chatting ended a pretty good (if exhausting) day.

I've decided that my next purchase is going to be a pair of snow-shoes. Dilys seems to have built in ones - her footprints were huge! :D