I wasn't sure what to expect from the early season trip up to Healy Pass, but it turned out very reasonable (for the time of year).
We met by the open locker room and washrooms adjacent to the ticket booths at the front of the parking lot building at 9.00am.
Sunshine Gondola Base
Coordinator David conducts the pre-trip meeting on the Healy Pass Trail
We descended (on skis) and cautiously crossed the narrow bridge before ascending steadily up the broken trail. After this first bridge (1.0km?), most rocks were covered sufficient even for the afternoon descent. With a few short breaks we made the Simpson Pass turnoff for a slightly longer break as I switched to full length skins (from half-length). Then up to tree-line by 12 noon where we enjoyed lunch in the hazy sunshine. Healy Pass was reached about 1.00pm
Ramblers de-skin on Healy Pass
Since it wasn't warm (-8c) we soon started back down through some excellent powder (25cms) on a hard crust. But yo-yo turns were not the objective of this trip (just a simple up and down to Healy Pass), so we descended. I was very grateful to new member Marta for hanging back and sticking with me as I struggled on the fast, narrow, bumpy trail (that's what it was to me), I fell a record 6 times. The others all seemed to handle it better, but waited at key points. Most of us walked down the last hill (600m) to the cars by 3.30pm. Some resort skiers were descending the skiout but it looked rough for the bottom few hundred metres.
I enjoyed the trip and others said the same. The snow was a little thin and bumpy but pretty reasonable for mid-November. The resort was not busy at 9.00am, I parked in row 3.
Thanks to everyone for joining me.18k, 660m, 6.5 hours.
Participants: Sim,David,Alda,Carl,Jack,Mark,Marta.