When setting out this traverse, Windy creek hadn't been the river we imagined having to deal with but Mountain Creek was always a concern. We climbed up from Rogers Pass knowing that at the bottom of the next valley we'd find our biggest watercourse challenge. Before even reaching the river, the team split up. Douglas had broken a ski and Steve went back with him to Revelstoke to sort out a new ski. The two would continue for over 20 hours of continuous travel before catching up with us the next morning. But that's another story. Additionally, getting to Mountain Creek was no picnic either. The Ursus Creek valley draining north was in a large way a nightmare. By the time we reached the broad valley bottom, the day was late and we were tired. When I first looked upon the water, I couldn't imagine how we'd cross it. Swim across with a rope around my waist? Would we have to go kilometers up-valley to find a narrower crossing? Could we find a natural bridge? Braids to wade? After some discussion, we decided to walk downstream to look for a possible logjam or something that we could use as a crossing. Downstream would mean that the river could only get larger but it was in line with our direction of travel.

Amazingly we found a log crossing. Mark immediately set to work with my snowsaw, nimbly cutting away at branches to make the crossing easier. I was uneasy but I couldn't imagine better luck than this newly fallen log, not yet swept off by the spring current.