Nokhu Hut

Posted on 21 December 2009

Dave

Following a full day at the office, I gathered some friends and we took off for the Never Summer Wilderness just as it was getting dark.  Our destination: the Nokhu Hut nestled just below Lake Agnes and the Nokhu Crags.

Shannon

We started skinning at just after 9pm, it was a brisk and calm night that kept us on the move as we made our way along the 1.5 trail, with an arrival just under an hour later.  There we found the rest of the gang munching on banana bread, desperately awaiting our arrival with the bags of dinner for the night. After we stuffed ourselves with chili it was time for bed.

The Nokhu Hut

I awakened to the sounds and smells of a fire being started, and helped out with the breakfast proceedings. It was a slow start but the snow was falling outside and we were in no rush to plunder it. When we finally did get out, we decided to make our way up the ridge to the west and check out the trees. These were agreed to be the safest option for the day, as a number of faceted layers had built up that were just waiting to break free on the more steep and open faces- in fact Erik got a shot the day before of a slide that showed these layers quite nicely:

Crown Showing Layers

The snow in the mellower trees was good and deep powder that we lapped again and again, whooping and hollering all day long as the snow kept falling.

Andrew

After a fulfilling day of this, it was time to retire back to the hut, and cook up another feast; then there were the drumcircles, and a poetry slam, then sleep.  Sometime during the night we awoke to the screams of a communal nightmare- quite scary (but more can be read about that here).

In the morning it was time to clean and pack up, but first we took a quick jaunt up towards Lake Agnes to get a better view of the area (a spring recon mission, if you will).  We found a skiable pitch with boot-deep powder that was fun but short, and decided to call it a day.  The skin track out was quick and fluffy, and we made it back to the cars in no time.