[MCR] Rockies - Wapta Traverse

Our group and a Scottish crew tag-teamed across the Wapta Feb 15-18, starting at Bow and finishing at Sherbrooke.

Conditions on the icefield seem pretty normal for this time of year. Of note however was that I probed only 250 cm of fairly low density snow on the toe of the glacier leading to Balfour hi col. That said, coverage on the route to the col was more filled in than I had ever seen it, with few signs of crevasses. I didn't probe higher on the route because I was scurrying away from the seracs, but it was smooth sailing quite close to the rock nunatak pretty much all the way. The upper slopes of Balfour were scoured by the recent wind event, with few cornices above the ascent route.

On Feb 17 we saw a recent size 2 avalanche below a cornice on a south aspect of Mt Gordon, probably as a result of strong north winds on Saturday. We also saw plenty of fresh debris below cornices on east aspects in the Sherbrooke valley today, Feb 18. Lastly, we saw a large avalanche on a south aspect below a cliff band in the Dolomite Peak area on the drive back to Bow today. Solar radiation was strong on south aspects today.

We were fairly conservative in our terrain selection this trip due to recent avalanche activity. We used the upper bench start to Balfour hi col (starting at the north end of the moraines) and dropped to the lower bench half way, to avoid the steep slopes on the direct approach through the moraines. Traversing below Niles today we dropped down to about 8100 ft from the Niles-Daly col, this is just above the first steep slopes on the classic exit. Then we skinned up a short, moderate moraine slope to regain the Schiesser-Lomas exit. This avoided most of the exposure from the upper slopes and cornices of Niles that you are subject to if you take a high traverse from the N/D col. 

We had localized whumpfing in the moraines below Niles today, but nothing up on the icefield and in the trees in Sherbrooke the snow felt quite supportive, although I'm sure we have a few layers of concern in that terrain as well.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

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