[MCR] Wapta - Balfour Pass

Subject: [MCR] Wapta - Balfour Pass
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 09:39:51 -0700
An exhausting trip on the Wapta with Luis Castillo, and an aborted attempt (due 
to very poor visibility) at circumnavigating Mt. Gordon via the south glacier 
route yesterday. We made it up to just below the col and descended back to 
Balfour Pass. With good visibility and continued good stability this would be a 
recommended route right now.

Conditions are excellent for this time of the year:

 With a decent pair of rock skis you can ski about 60-70% of the approach to 
the Bow Hut up and down. The rest is walking on a well-packed trail (thanks to 
the dozen or so weekend visitors!) You can use the winter trail for the first 
canyon (on the left), but the second canyon is still best passed on the summer 
trail (access it about 100 m into the canyon via an obvious snow slope, above 
the canyon on the left).

 30-40 cm ski pen on the glaciers where not wind affected – light fluffy 
stellars.

 From the little investigation we did of the snowpack, it seems reminiscent 
more of Rogers Pass than the Rockies… That said, there are some layers failing 
in the moderate range with Compression Tests, in the upper snowpack. 

 Daytime highs of about -9, lows of about -15.

 Lots of moderate winds with frequent strong gusts – plenty of wind transport 
and wind affect, but also lots of areas with virtually undisturbed snow, e.g. 
on the Vulture Glacier, S Gordon Glacier.

 Grant Meekins and Meagan Carney skied the West Glacier on Mt. Olive yesterday 
(Sunday), a steep line up to mid/high 30’s, and reported good stability and 
excellent ski quality.

 At 5:00 pm yesterday the glacier above the Bow hut was firming up with a soft 
windslab that still offered OK skiing but hinted at possible problems to come . 
However, as of yesterday evening we saw only minor sluffing on steep terrain 
(e.g. below the seracs above Bow Hut).

 HS ranging from nil (e.g. around Balfour Pass) to 75 cm (top of the onion 
skin/glacier above Bow Hut), to 200+ cm (Vulture Glacier, etc.)
 
Avalanche Hazard summary:
Alpine: Moderate
Treeline: Low
Below Treeline: Snowpack is still a work in progress…

Stability: F-G (deteriorating with wind)/G/~

Regards,
Tom Wolfe