[MCR] Wapta Icefields Conditions

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

For those interested, myself and Grant Meekins just came back from a week based out of Bow Hut on the Wapta.

Conditions on the ski in were not very inspiring. The average snow depth was 15cm’s, but we were able to ski from the car right to the hut. The canyon didn’t present too much difficulty, two sections had to be walked.

Temperatures were mild throughout the week, and we received 35cm’s of snow in the alpine, along with moderate to extreme winds from the S - W.

We made ascents of Mt.Gordon, Mt.Olive, the Onion and a trip over to Mt.Rhonda. Snow cover on the glacier was as thin as we have ever “skied” it. Average snow depth on the glacier was 80cm as of yesterday, with open crevasses and exposed ice on the convex rolls. The normal way to Mt.Gordon was impassable due to open crevasses. 

The only day we had visibility (Tuesday) we saw several natural slab avalanches up to size 2.5 on NE and N aspects triggered by wind loading. 

Our main concerns were windslabs in the alpine that could be easily triggered by a skier in steep terrain, falling into a crevasse while skiing unroped, and cranking a rock in the shallow snow near and below the hut and ruining our skies and our ski season. 

We managed those concerns by generally avoiding avalanche terrain, using the rope on the glacier (sometimes both up and down) and carefully probing a route if we wanted to ski it unroped. The ski down from the hut, was more side slipping, kick turning and snow plowing than anything else.

Not much info these days as the season gets going, so hopefully that’s useful for folks in the Rockies.

Cheers
Jason Billing


Jason Billing
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
ACMG Alpine Guide/Apprentice Ski Guide
403.609.7602