MacDonald Gully #1

Gully #1 is a tight avalanche path line with a sibling gully immediately adjacent. It only skis well once the snowpack is properly filled in; thin coverage turns the whole thing into a scratchy, high-consequence puzzle with exposed ice and creek features lurking under the sluff.

From the lower fan, trend up along the obvious path, staying out of the gut where overhead hazard is active. The entrance can be awkward and often requires picking through small rolls and old debris; expect to downclimb or sidestep if the last cycle flushed it to rock or blue ice. Once in, the walls focus any new snow and wind loading, so read the surface carefully before committing.

This is advanced terrain: confined gully, overhead hazard, and frequent hangfire after storms or warm-ups. Watch for hard wind slab over older debris, buried ice in the choke, and terrain traps where the path narrows. Best treated as a conditions-first objective in a stable snowpack, not a casual lap to “just check it out.”