Just finished a 4 Day Wapta Traverse Peyto Lake to Sherbrook Lake today.
Thu: Peyto Hut approach. Trail down to the lake is well
tracked and carries when frozen in the morning, but beware of stepping off it…..There
are about 20cm of snow left on the lake ice currently. The hut approach via the
moraine traveled well and we had to take off our skis only three times to make
it past some rocky islands. The snow coverage on the glacier is meager (meaning
even worse than normal!). I ended up roping on as soon as the route on the
glacier swings left in order to traverse the more or less flat glacier.
Fri: Climbed Mt. Rhonda (formerly Rhonda South) and Mt. Gordon,
then Bow Hut. The 5-10 cm of fresh snow we had from localized snow showers overnight
did wonders for the skiing quality, especially on the northerly aspects of
Gordon where wind protected. I had crossed the Wapta from Bow Hut to Peyto Lake
in early September last year and there was not a speck of snow left. Given the
low coverage and uneven distribution on the glacier this season, I stayed roped
up in places where I had never used a rope before.
Sat: Balfour Hut, High Col,
Mt. Balfour to Scott Duncan Hut: Good track
to the Balfour High Col, which requires traversing several crevasse bridges.
The seracs seem to look more threatening every year. No sign of previous travel
on the summit slope to Mt.
Balfour (a previous party
approached the south ridge earlier by a less threatening slope, which is not a
bad idea). A quick shear test revealed and moderate shear on small facets (recrystalized
snow) 10 cm down on the interface of the recent snow, however the 10cm slab
wasn’t cohesive enough to where it was an issue (yet!). Surprising and
more concerning was the existence of decomposing surface hoar 3-5 mm in size
about 50cm down which came out as a clean shear but only very hard (on this wind-exposed,
southerly aspect). The bulletin had mentioned this layer and I could imagine it
being more of an issue in shady and wind protected locations.
Sun: Ski out via Sherbrook
Lake felt more like early
May than early March. We used the “conventional exit” straight down
the valley but I believe the Schiesser Lomas offers easier travel once you hit
the tree line, even if one has reason to feel good about going straight down from
a stability point of view. The trail from the lake back to the highway made the
Whistler luge competition look like kid’s play…….
Sounds like there is finally some real snow in the forecast
so this might all be yesterday’s news!
Let’s hope winter is not over yet!
Jorg Wilz
Mountain Guide (ACMG/IFMGA)
OnTop ltd.
www.ontopmountaineering.com
1-800 506 7177 or (001) 403 678 2717