Just back from 7 days doing the wapta traverse. Overall conditions
were good with cool weather over the first half and warming on the last day.
Trail down to Peyto lake has been butchered and who ever put it in
got a bit lost and there is some bushwacking to get down. It was near
iso the day we went and it was best to use that trail. We should beg
Parks to clean this up a bit this summer.
Generally good coverage on the creek bed and morraines, pretty much
as usual. Generally good coverage on the glaciers, buried a 260 probe
in most places. No signs of any new activity while we were there
other than some minor sluffing on the 3rd on south aspects. Good
skiing on the Diaberlet glacier.
the high col is passable with a bridge (felt pretty solid probing) on
the right side of the big crevasse. From our 2 days at Balfour we
only saw some minor icefall below the crevasse. However this is a
hazardous area and there is some stuff (as always) waiting to come
down. Move fast then hard left over the crevasse.
It seems not only is there a big crevasse but the lower lip has
dropped and it seems to be forming more of a shrund. If it is this
open now during a good winter it will be interesting to see what
happens here over the next year or two. I remember seeing it open
like this but the vertical drop at the crevasse is different from other years.
Good coverage on the Daly glacier, I stayed left and headed to the
bottom of Lilliput and this line is clean. I can see where if you
take a more direct line to the hut there are some newer slots I don't
remember from the past.
Below the Niles col the snow was a breakable crust to the creek bed
but this will change. In a few days it should carry better. The
waterfall above the lake is passable but did some spotting there as it was icy.
Rest of the trail down was fine.
Peter Amann
Peter Amann
Mountain Guiding
Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0
780 852 3237
cell 780 931 2521
www.incentre.net/pamann
pamann@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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