Skied in the Wapta area April 12-16. Peyto-Bow-Balfour-Bow and out to Bow Lake. The morraines climbing up to Peyto glacier were still mostly covered in hard packed snow. Boot packing was the easiest way to climb up. We saw lots of slab avalanches from the storm about a week ago on various aspects all over between the Peyto and Balfour Hut area. Some released naturally, some were triggered by cornice or serac fall. We also noted many point releases on sunny aspects that step down to deeper layers and released decent size slab avalanches. On thinner spots around morrainal features some 'whumpf' sounds confirmed the still unstable layering of the snowpack. Again I had to turn away from Balfour High Col. Still large open and some barely covered cravesses, serac and cornice fall, and still the potential of skier triggering the deeper unstable layers was beyond our risk tolerance, even though it was a blue bird day and other un-guided parties decided to take the risk (or were not aware of it). See picture in previous Wapta posting. Enjoy the spring Thomas Exner Mountain Guide, IFMGA, ACMG www.ontopmountaineering.com (403) 678 2717 |
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