Tour De Victoria 2013

In early September the RBC Whistler Grand Fondo took place. MEC was represented by an enthusiastic crew in sharp new Castelli kits. As I am one of the Envoy members as "Ski Mountaineer" I was stoked to be part of the team for the event ! 

Ryders Legendary "Giro D'italia" Pink Jersey for Auction  !

Riding a dedicated lane from Vancouver to Whistler is an incredible experience and a highlight of the course!

After the ride I started looking around for more Fondo’s before hanging up the road bike before I started prepping for winter.  I soon found Ryder Hesejdals 3rd annual Victoria ride was happening on Sept 22.

 It seemed like the perfect excuse to head over to the island and soak up the legendary sunshine they supposedly get.
WWW.TOUR DE VICTORIA

The event has 3 distances of 50km 100km and 140km to match goals of those that want to take part.

The Route !

The 140km option route follows many of the classic roads in the Victoria area with over 1500m of climbing.

The level of organization at these events is impressive; the enthusiasm of those involved is contagious as is the smiles of the many volunteers.

I connected with my good friend and former Iron man champion “Peter Reid” for some pre-event fueling and I tried to squeeze some local’s knowledge of the course.

Before turning in for the night I did some last minute fine-tuning of the bike, then anticipating precipitation, dropped the tire pressure. Before I knew it my alarm jolted me awake and instantly my ears were alert to rain hitting the patio deck..

Gear Junkies !

Essential for long, cold day's in the saddle- Taint Love and Hot Balm !

I must admit it’s difficult not to let rain dampen your spirits however I was surprisingly optimistic for someone rolling out the door at 6am for a 7am start. It was likely due to the combination of a quad shot Americano Peter brewed up and the heat rub I had on my legs.

At the start line it was great to see some familiar faces and folks of all shapes and sizes ! Some were there to be competitive, while others were more goal oriented where finishing an event of this nature was on their bucket list.

Start and finish in front of the Parliment buildings, Victoria !

One of the highlights of Fondo Style events is the staging or seeding area where you can place yourself with an anticipated finish time so the event is low pressure and you can ride with others of similar fitness/skills or ambitions.

After some quick speeches from local celebrities we rolled out to the National Anthem for a 5km neutral start. The 1500 riders in the 140km distance were off for a clockwise circuit around Greater Victoria in an absolute deluge of rain and wind. Even Victoria is not excluded from our coastal mountain monsoons!

Everybody looked dressed for the occasion and it was clear that spirits were not dampened one bit.

The loop took us through some amazing scenic back roads, secondary feeders and bike paths.

The lack of rain throughout the summer created slick roads and being conservative on the corners was key to keeping the rubber side down.

The highpoint of the course was on Munn road with a 6km climb with grades up to 18%. We were rewarded with a fast 8km technical down hill that demanded careful braking and line choices. A rider slid out in front of me and I had to change my line, taking me off the road to what looked like certain carnage. My mountain bike instincts kicked in and I negotiated and weaved through some big rocks before going over the bars at a manageable speed. I quickly ran back to the road, and took off, in a calm but disappointed realization that I might not catch the front group. Riding on my own gave me ideal line choices and little stress from having others around me and after 15 minutes of chasing I reattached to the lead group and started to refuel and put my raincoat back on.

The hill had naturally selected about 20 riders and it seemed this group would roll to the line for a field sprint.

That thought nearly crumbled when we hit a long cross wind section and a few of the local pro’s put their heads down and ramped up the speeds.

Eventually the road turned and we had the wind at our backs, the average speed went up but the effort went down.

As the roads snaked along the coast we still had to have our guard up for slick corners and especially the crosswalk paint ! There were a few crashes, usually at low speed and low consequence but it likely meant losing contact with the front group.

Eventually there was a fairly big crash . Again I nearly hit the deck but was able stay on my feet. I got my chain back on and thought for sure the peloton was gone.

I had one chance of connecting back to the group so I put my head down and  ran through my gears and sat at my aerobic threshold in time trial mode until I caught back onto the tail of the dwindling pack.

Just as I arrived Rob Britton a local pro riding for a British team jumped away on a set of small rollers.

I was in no condition to try to join him so I sat back and tried to recover from my effort.

He slowly pulled away while our speeds fluctuated from lack of pack commitment.

About 10km away from the finish I tried a small move at the base of a climb and ended up dangling about 200 ft in front of the peloton so I shut it down.

Our group was rolling along at a moderately fast pace but essentially Rob was going to take the race if we did not commit.

3 km from the finish the group hesitated a little bit and I decided to have another dig, thinking that if I could make it to the final corners I had a shot at 2^nd.

I immediately opened up a sizable gap, enough to pull it off; or so I thought.

As I turned into Victoria I was faced with a strong head wind. The Peloton was breathing down my neck and with fading legs, I was caught 100m from the finish for 9^th overall.

Sooo close.

 Roger Lee who was also riding under the MEC Banner was 8^th after overcoming some difficulties along the route.

It was awesome to see the continuous stream of riders coming across the line.  It didn’t matter if you were a 50 km or 140km participant the achievement of taking part in the Tour and taking on the personal challenge was what brought a great cycling community together !

Chris

Knee Rehab and Riding !

It's been 2 months to the day that Jimmy and I fell 1700 ft down the side of a mountain.
I often think back to how lucky were were to walk away from that incident with minor injuries. I can see it in Jimmy's eyes how the experience has effected him. 
For the 1st week after the accident I woke up often, with many thoughts running through my mind on risk taking and the narrow margin many of us live in doing the sports we love. 
This past winter I backed off of up to 50% of my objectives due to intuition or spidey senses tingling.
On this day my senses were giving me the green light... I guess I need to open up a bit more and remember the mountains are unforgiving when you let your guard down.

From the accident scene we made our way to the Pemberton clinic where we received top notch care. It was nice to see Ian Kruger, one of the nurses I met riding in the Chilcotins 2 summers ago. He is a skier/climber/mountain biker so it's great to have someone cut from the same cloth working on ya !
The Pemby clinic referred me to the Whistler clinics http://www.northlandsclinic.com/ and http://www.seatoskyorthopaedics.com/index.html
As it turns out I knew Dr. Cathryn Zeglinski through the mountain bike/ skiing network. She was able to see me in quick order so I could initiate my recover for the summer.
Her hands on assessment was a grade 2 trending 3 MCL tear which was an accurate diagnosis. My MRI findings I subsequently had showed a significant Grade 2/ non-distracted grade 3, full thickness injury and a posterior oblique tear of the meniscus. Sounds heavy, I wasn't sure what to think..
It was music to my ears when Cathy told me cycling was one of the best rehab tools for MCL injuries. I don't have to be told twice...perfect excuse to do exactly what I love to do even more !
Shortly after I connected with Dr Sally Clark of the Sea to Sky Orthopedics to further asses my MRI if I needed surgery.
It took me a little over 3 weeks to get the range of motion for a pedal stroke. As soon as that happened I headed down the Washington Coast for a couple of days with some friends who were surfing. The landscape at Westport is pancake flat and perfect for spinning. It would take another 2 weeks before I could think about getting out of the saddle. Riding is linear so there is no stress on the medial aspect. Pivoting or stubbing a toe or any kind of sideloading is a certain no go with this injury !
May 15, 1 month after the incident I did my 1st long semi hilly road ride and was able to stand on the pedals and give short bursts of speed.
Suddenly something dawned on me to possibly do the "Test Of Metal". I think I did the original race 17 yrs ago, had my top result in 2009 in 9th place so why not make this a goal.
Only problem was the event was sold out so I would have to qualify for an Elite License. Cycling B.C Grandfathered me the category based on old results so I was good to go.. except the fitness :)
May 24 I turned 44 and really questioned why I want to race with the elite..The lack of pressure to do well kind of helps I guess.
With my commitment to getting my knee strong and the TEst Looming I put in a month of big mileage. Strava is kind of addicting and i was able to track my progress. In my 1 month of prep/rehab I put in over 120,000 km of elevation gain and up to 15 hr weeks. My next concern was over-stressing the knee but I did not have any pain or inflammation. 
A week before the Test I went in for a re-assesment and I was told minimum 6 more weeks and new diagnosis was a grade 2 tear. 
Then I started to wonder if racing the Test was a good idea- 1 crash and I'm back to zero !
I was not too worried about hitting the deck unless the plunge was wet but things were lining up to be dry and my pre-rides were going smooth. 6 days before the race I did a pre-ride to see how things were going and I pulled off a solo 2:50 starting on Skyline..Shocker- I don't recall riding it that fast in the years I had been training all season. My confidence was tentatively high !
2 months to the day Jimmy and I nearly died I was on the start-line of the Test.. Pretty stoked to be here and looking forward to the day..
My tactic for the day was to latch onto a reasonable fast group and hang in there !

As the day progressed I realized somewhere along the line I redlined a little too long and the legs were barely turning on 9 mile so I started to slide backwards.
The descent went smooth, I had little cramping and came into the finish happy enough with a 3:06.
I was anticipating under 3 but still super fired up to post that time with a month on the bike and an atrophied leg.




From the Test I had a quick shower and headed to Ambleside for the WestVancouver Firefighters Charitable society's "Pipes By The Beach" fundraiser to take images for the event. It was a great lead up to Fathers day and it was well attended.

The event raised close to 10 grand for the society to use towards various charitable causes.

The Westvancouver Firefighters put on an amazing event once again !


Next up.. BCBR guest day, Cardiac Classic, Gear Jammer and JABR with more physio to try to balance out my leg strength.
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks @RydersEyewear.com @MEC @Dissentlabs @Giro @Alpina @Corsa

Season Ender ! Could be worse....

My friends Jimmy's Martinello's Words--
Of Passion what it can hold, where love takes us, on what we feel at what cost. So truly we are blessed, tears shedding pulling out of the soul, why one might ask for reason know one will ever know. To give all your heart and soul, truly blessed to be alive, my friends my family my everything, to be gone to move on I ask for will we ever know. My only wish to father my chidren to see them grow old, to love my beautiful wife my wonderful family and friends, ocean of sadness pours out of me that it was almost stripped away, for thanks to nature and spirits watching out for us, we live on, blessed of our learning and everyday we grow stronger.
Confused step back, reflect, reflections of our desires.
All I know is that I love life and all of you that have crossed my path, Chris my soul brother I am so happy to have you here and that we are giving another chance and that we know we charish life and passion fills our souls.....
To living, loving and sharing happiness for all life......

Thank you everyone love to all of you......
Live on....................................from the heart...........

Jimmy Martinello

Chris Christie

Hopefully this incident write up can help people in decision making in the mountains-
Did a season ender on April 16- , appears to be a MCL and maybe meniscus. Could have been far worse so I’ll take it !

Myself and Jimmy Martinello were involved in a incident up in Pemberton Valley.
A group of 4 arrived at the base of the main North Face at 7am and we observed some recent slide activity on a North West Aspect, unsupported, rocky terrain.

That was enough for me to change objective so I opted for a Coulior that had a predominant sheltered North aspect.

Trajectory through the cliffs above me  ! Mach Schnell !

The group of 4 broke up into 2 groups of 2 in different zones.

Myself and partner started up the coulior, poking/prodding, a few quick shear tests. Nothing unusual found, confidence was high. foot Pen was deep- knee to thigh. 45 deg
We pulled a dogleg and I observed a cornice and then saw a safe secondary couloir with no hang-fire so we chose that route. the last 200m was approx 50deg, 

As we neared the exit we assessed the convexity and felt that the gradual roll was not really a concern.

 I stopped near the top of the couloir while my partner gained the final low angle 20 deg to ridge top. 

As soon as he stood on it he felt a large settlement and I saw cracking shooting up the ridge. I dove for the corner of the couloir but was dragged down the couloir head 1st, face down and knew I was going for the ride. My mouth was immediately packed with snow and I thought I would suffocate before coming to a stop. The next thing I recall was a surreal feel of freefalling. I have no clue if I was face up or down, all I can say is it was dream like in a weird way, waiting for some incredible impact that never happened. We figure we were sent off a 50ft cliff thankfully landing in the main gut of the steep coulior and continued cartwheeling at a ridiculous velocity towards the moraine below. Total slide path 1700 feet.

http://whiskeytahoe.blogspot.ca/

As I came to a stop I punched towards what I thought was up and was partially buried with 1 arm free. I slowly dug my face clear and was able to pull the snow out of my airway. I quickly realized I still could not breath because I couldn't expand my chest with the the snow packed so tight.  Our 2 friends had already skied their line and luckily were watching us so they got to us quickly. Jimmy was partially buried 50 feet away and I could hear his voice which allowed me to relax and shallow breath until I was free. Injuries sustained were knee damage, Jimmy had neck pain and I assessed as a stable injury in the field and we felt it was ok to move him out. We both had what felt like scratches on our eyeballs and airway's from snow being forced into every opening on our bodies.
X-ray's and ultra sound cleared us of fractures and internal injuries/
Looking back we feel we did most things correctly. we adjusted ambitions and went for the Coulior where we felt risk to objective hazard was substantially lower and easier to manage.
I believe the slight transition into the new aspect is what got us- there is a melt freeze and buried surface hoar layer from April 4th. I vaguely recall hearing jimmy's footsteps on firm bedsurface and he remembers thinking he was on solid bridged ground. The low angle of the terrain may have been a contributing factor in not doing further stability tests as we changed aspects. Time of day was 10:00 am with broken cloud so daytime heating was not a factor.
We do not have any real information on the snowpack where the the slide was triggered, only speculation based on advisories and surface conditions/aspect.
Both of us had ABS on but my 1st reaction was to get to the side and avoid the ride. I did reach for my trigger once committed to the slide but it was too violent, I was a simple rag-doll. The pack was ripped in half tho-- maybe saved me from some impacts.
We both Feel like we were in a car-Wreck and are super fortunate we can go home to our families/Friends with little damage.
1 broken ski,
4 lost ski poles
2 lost ice tools
1 destroyed ABS pack ( due to skis attached to pack during the fall )
1 MCL
Might take some time for mental healing !

2300m mark start point E-NE ridge top and we were dragged into main N facing coulior, full slide path 1700-1800 ft
I believe the current avalanche advisory reflects the highly variable unpredictable snowpack we have right now. There were other incidents the same day on the coast region. Some forecasters call it a 10yr anomaly, a bit rare for the coast range so heads up out there !
Cc

 (4 photos)

Late Winter- Spring 2013

The coast has experienced a wild variety of weather patterns this season.

The Pineapple express came within a degree or 2 of really doing some damage but in reality it layered a thick cohesive layer of schmoo in the high alpine and filled in many lines that we have been waiting to hit.

Often a storm was followed by some high pressure and blue sky’s which is definitely an anomaly in these parts.

Photo- Julie Tennock 

High winds left behind my week old tracks

Talking with many skiers there was a mix of feelings on the overall snowpack and conditions.  There were those who felt that it’s been a less 
than stellar season and others that are fully stoked on how their year has unfolded.
The snowpack is approximately half of average ( that may have changed in the past couple of weeks)  With that in mind features tend to stand out more although a shallow snowpack can create terrain management issues.

There have been some down day’s waiting for a storm to pass or temps to fall to a reasonable elevation but what I personally found was the season has been outstanding. Often it took a little more effort or searching  a little further into the high alpine farming the snow.

My best days have often been where I’ve had low expectation,  often armchair  forecasting is inaccurate and you truly don't know until you go !

If I’m not skiing or working I’m thinking about the next mission and checking in on the social networks/blogs/professional forecasters to see how conditions and advisories in regions are lining up.

This helps with the slow buildup in confidence to explore new lines.

Shortly after the “Deep Winter Photo challenge” @ Whistler/Blackcomb I experienced a pinched nerve in C5  of my neck and it caused heavy numbness and weakness in my right arm. I couldn’t feel a pole plant. It worked but was an unnerving sensation to say the least. I scaled back some of my ambitions for a while and spent many day’s in therapy hoping to retain my strength and be ready for some planned trips in March, April and May.

This gave me some time to make some plans for the longer day's of spring. Those involved the backyard and also heading north for a trip to Kitimat and Bella Coola.
As the temps dropped back to seasonal averages so did the moisture in the snow.
During the high hazard day's its tough to beat Whistler-Blackcomb.
Storm day's are spent following the Avalanche control openings and subsequent day's are spent pushing into the near country. After that some confidence is gained to explore the more remote lines.

https://vimeo.com/62399740
Early March Tobin Seagel, David Gheriani and Penny Buswell headed on the long journey up to Kitimat and Terrace ! We went up there to gain a perspective on the possible impact on the Enbridge Pipeline and the mountains/oceans interface.
Part of the proposal is to tunnel through Nimbus Mountain near Kitimat. This seemed like the obvious choice to visit and possibly ski. As it turns out this peak has an amazing North Face that has never been skied.
The idea of a oil pipeline through this remote peak is absurd. The area has many drainages and slide-paths that the line would pass through.
Unfortunately on our week long visit the avalanche hazard was much too high to consider accessing this area.
The entire coast line is at risk for possible pipelines and oil tankers. Many of the
 rarely visited fjords are prime habitat for a huge variety of wildlife/sealife. It has the potential to be a massive environmental disaster to allow the movement of oil through these pristine areas.
Next we headed down to Bella Coola, another small town deep in the Fjord of "Inside Passage". This area is known for having wild mountains within view of the Pacific ocean.
Bella Coola Heli Sport was kind enough to have us visit their tenure in a ski touring format. We arrived shortly after a large storm and it looked like our timing was perfect. We met with the guides and discussed location and objectives. I was stoked, I finally meet "The Swede" I 1st saw him in my all time favorite "Matchstick Productions" Global Storming".. Not to mention Beat Steiner, Christian Begin, these guy's have layed down some amazing lines in the coast mountains for years- huge respect !
The avalanche advisory meant we had to ease into our 10 day's and carefully gain confidence in objectives. The chosen zone would be ideal for this. There were a number of couloirs where we could manage the risk we would be exposing ourselves to.
Soon West Coast Heli had us at the col where we chose to camp and we got to work at building a fortress incase we did experience inclement weather.
Strangely enough as we were building walls I noticed a North Wind was starting to build up. Before long winds were steady 40 km and gusting 80km.
Next day we woke to limited visiblity and gusty winds.

The next few day's we had challenging weather with some breaks but the wind had created a slab that was variable but disconcerning enough to keep us at bay.
We got 1 large couloir off and 3/4 of the way up another line on some amazine Spires before the spidey senses turned us around.

Spot Tobin Seagel and David Gheriani climbing !

We left that area with a great experience but a little frustrated at how close we were to getting some incredible couloir skiing. I can't help but be jealous when I see the Sherpas in that zone filming for their fall 2013 release of " Into the Mind" That crew will certain kill it in there.
https://vimeo.com/54348266
So back from our Northern Gateway Mission we started to get back on some of our favorite local lines. The past week has given up some great weather and improving stability.

https://vimeo.com/62567469

Cornice Control Crew !

The high pressure locked in on the coast has been legendary lately ! Sandals in the valley bottoms and deep stable pow on the North Facing gems has been the order of the week.
It is getting spooky on some aspects and respect of afternoon warming has to be on everyones mind.
With those considerations we have been getting some early starts to have projects complete  or choose exits that limit exposure to overhead hazards.

The other day Trevor Hunt and myself went up into the zone next to his burly spine. 
http://www.coaststeepskier.com/wphome/?p=21242 

I was amazed at how big this line felt.
 Trevor climbed the short boot pack to the summit while I chose to shoot from the ridge ( I also felt that only exposing 1 person on the last 200 ft was best )

T.Hunt 

Trevor snapped  a few as I dropped into the guts !

The line is about 1800 ft and the exit was straightforward back up to the ridge.

With this fresh on my mind I got a call from Jon Johnston to go in and do a line that has haunted me for a couple of years. I had a few previous chances  but came up with some lame excuse not to go. Earlier this winter I had a good view of the line and mentally decided to take this one off the list.
I'm not sure what changed my mind. I've got some good miles in the legs and being on the snow many days in a row gave me some good confidence that the timing was right.

Even the industrial machinery is big in these parts !

Jon and I headed in early to scope the line and then meet Trevor Hunt and Tobin Seagel later in the day.

Old Mining Shelter !

On our recon we ran into Dave Basterrchea, Delaney Zayac, Joe Lax and company, they were on their way back.
They gave us the beta and warned us of some difficulties on the approach.
We set the alarm for 4am to beat the daytime heat and quickly fired through the challenges of getting to the base of the south side.

A firm climb put us on the summit by 9am and I could feel my apprehension growing but I was relieved it was within reason and everything felt "Good To Go!"

We all had a quick word for "Jack Hannan" who passed away March 31, 2010 on Mt Currie.



https://vimeo.com/63137787
 We slid into the N.East face one at a time and it was stunning how much exposure this line gave us. 

GoPro Screen Capture !

There were numerous 2000 ft spines 50-60 deg to a traverse to the True North aspect and more steep spines and chokes.

Tobin Seagel coming at ya !

Trevor Hunt in the driver seat !

The snow was perfect and sluff was fast and sounded like a freight train. We all carefully picked our way down this 1st section and then leapfrogged each other the full 6500 ft to the valley Bottom.

Tobin looking on while Jon goes in for the kill !

The upper 1/3rd spines.

I doubt you could wipe the grin off our faces. For me that line was the pinnacle of my achievements skiing biglines.

Bigline Hunting ! 
This stuff works !







In the back of my mind my 6th trip into the Waddington is coming up fast and we are considering a recon mission by fixed wing to see if

the line is filled. The Bergshrunds are a real problem for access to the objective. This year we have plan "B and "C" in mind and are worthy projects for sure.
4 day's after I return from Waddington I am heading to the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia and Russia with 

Trevor Hunt- http://www.coaststeepskier.com/wphome/
Tobin Seagel - http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Community/MECEnvoys/TobinSeagel.jsp
and Peter Schon who has done extensive travelling/work and photography in the region-
http://www.photographerspro.eu/peterschoen/
http://hilleberg.se/peter-schoen
We will spend close to a month in some regions that Peter has explored and has noted some possible 1st descents.
In the meantime, hopefully more missions to get ready for the upcoming adventures !
Cheers,
Chris

I've been super fortunate to be part of the MEC Envoy program ! Mec has been a great inspiration to me since I was a kid buying my 1st harness and hopefully  through my travels, photography and writing I can inspire others to go out and find adventure at any level they can achieve. 
I've also been involved with RydersEyewear since the beginning and it's been awesome working with them over the years and see the brand evolve. The latest action sport glasses and Gogs are dialled !

@MEC @Ryderseyewear @Intuition @GoPro @DPS
@/billygoattech

Strike 2 of the week !
Judgement-Fear or good Mountain Sense ! 
When to throw it down and get it done or turn heals and go home empty handed.

Last week I sat on the bench for the final lap of a 2 day mish due to a nagging shoulder issue. The crew nailed a big one while I played photographer with the safety of a long lens.
This weeks program I was determined to do something reasonably big and committing, maybe get back on that emotional high of accomplishing a project in the mountains.
We had a bit of a reset and slackcountry was pretty damn good through the week.
The long weekend gong show had me google earthing and searching for something new to attempt.
I felt the snowpack was a little touchy so a coulior was my preference to minimize risk while the snowpack tightened up.
Jimmy Martinello suggested a rad 900m line Jon Johnston and http://whiskeytahoe.blogspot.ca/
had done a few weeks ago so that was the obvious line choice. We got the beta and the plan was in action.
Trevor Hunt http://www.coaststeepskier.com/wphome/ also joined and my partner Julie Tennock.
The access is surprisingly fast and I had been up in this particular cirque many times but never saw this hidden line. Sometimes you have to think out of the box and the mountains open up many options of adventure.

We arrived at the base of the route and judging by the size of the avalanche debris the whole side of the mountain had cleaned itself out.

Not much to do in here ?
View from our climb,
Timing is everything !

This was both good and bad ! The route was clean but the skiing would be shite on firm bed surface. 

We decided to proceed and have a poke up the lower apron and stick our noses into the coulior.
Clearly we were slightly in the wrong spot as the initial choke contained a 30m vertical wall of ice.
Then we remembered Jon had cut left and climbed a steep face and traversed back into the coulior. Trevor took off setting a solid boot pack and Jimmy and I adjusted some gear and slowly followed.
The exposed traverse was a bit unnerving. I did a few quick hand shears on the 200m crossing and found moderate clean shears but felt ok as long as we avoided convexes or anything that wasn't supported.
The odd spot we hit shallow rotten snow but they were isolated and short lived.

More exposed than the image captures- 

Soon we were in the gut of the line climbing quickly on a firm Bed surface. Climbing was fast and as we pulled through a dog leg it was clear the entire coulior had slide a few day's prior and pulled out 2 separate aprons of snow. We were not looking at the greatest snow condition for skiing but the situation was top notch.

Then I saw a Double Greyhound cornice more or less staring down the top 3rd of the line..
This got some discussion going... How supported was it, are there safe zones we can dash between, what is sun doing, is there wind.. I started climbing again with my eyes locked on the feature and felt like it was probably ok as all the other signs were in check. No wind- The sun didn't appear to be a factor and with Jons Billygoat Plates we could move fast between safe spots.

No sooner had I convinced myself of this the winds started to pick up and it was evident the cornice was getting sun. Spindrift then weaved it's way down the buttress followed by a few small chunks of snow that whizzed passed me.  That was a enough for me to personally call it a day.

https://vimeo.com/59327410

Trevor and Jimmy seemed to agree and the feeling of the conditions were unanimous.
These moments alway's make me think about personal decision making in a group.
When I make observations I generally voice them to get a consensus on risk vs reward. Group dynamics can push a group to succeed and maybe pushing risk higher. At what point do you pull the ripcord and turn around. Ski Mountaineering is dangerous, all risk cannot be eliminated but certain aspects of it can be managed.
Our 1st error was leaving Squamish way too late. Had we been a few hours earlier, the afternoon warming would have been avoided. I believe the risk associated with that cornice would have been drastically reduced in cooler temps or at least a huge equation in deciding to turn or proceed would have been off the list.

Whats the problem ?.. Get up that thing !

Despite not succeeding the company was top notch as was the experience in this amazing location.
Cheers.