[MCR] Wapta Traverse March 17-22

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

No shortage of wind or whiteout on this trip, five days in my bright  
sunglasses and only one in my dark ones! Consistent new snow through  
the week.

March 17th we skied into the Peyto hut, of note were several  
whumpfing settlements as I crossed a runout zone on an east aspect,  
6700 feet, 1 km east of Cauldron Lake.

Day tripped from Peyto Hut on the 18th, a size 2.5 slab off of the  
East Face of Mt Baker, 10,000 feet (extreme terraine) and a heavy  
wind loaded look kept us away from the ridgelines -we skied down from  
a high point 150 meters below Baker col on one run not wanting to go  
all the way to the col.

Got lucky with the visibility on March 21st (the day for my dark  
glasses) and traveled over the Balfour High Col via the upper bench.  
The upper bench looks like the way to go right now as it keeps one on  
shallower slopes with little concern for the well bridged crevasses.  
No evidence of avalanches running onto the bench. Boot top trail  
breaking for us. Lots of wind effect above 9000 feet then fields of  
undisturbed surface hoar on the icefield leading to the Scott Duncan  
hut. 4 cms of new snow, calm winds, at the hut Saturday nignt.

Light wind out of the east Sunday morning. Skied out the Schiesser/ 
Lomas exit on a supportive sun crust from Niles Peak. Some cornice  
activated slabs to size 2, then a number of slabs to 2.5 out on all  
aspects -evidence of the recent cycle. One of the east facing gulleys  
off of Mt Ogden ran to within 50 meters of Sherbrooke Lake, fast and  
far?

Happy trails

Barry Blanchard
UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
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