Finished guiding a traverse of the Drummond-Bonnet today with ascents of an unnamed peak on the Drummond Icefield and North Bonnet Peak on the Bonnet Icefields.
Conditions were near perfect for the first 4 days with cold temperatures, easy travel at all elevations, and minimal avalanche hazard. Yesterday the wind and cloud arrived and things started to warm up.
We observed several loose snow avalanches out of extreme north facing terrain yesterday and today as the wind picked up. The only other recent avalanche was a small slab caused by a large cornice failure on a steep high N aspect on the Bonnet. No persistent weaknesses observed in this area but occasional shears down 40cm on facets on the Bonnet Icefield.
Moist snow on solar aspects and wet snow at lower elevations yesterday and today with wind pressed snow on N aspects.
Snow depth on the glaciers was between 200-240cm+, the valley bottoms averaged 100cm at 1900m with a supportive snowpack during our stay.
We were able to ski all the way to the Ink Pots in Johnson Creek today with only a couple places of unsupportive isothermal snow but this will deteriorate with warmer temperatures. There was a mix of walking and skiing below the Ink Pots to reach the highway.
Still good winter travel conditions up high!
Conrad Janzen
ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.banffmountainguides.com
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