Myself and Terry Palechuk are at Mistaya Lodge this week with a Thompson Rivers University ski touring group. Mistaya Lodge is located about 7 km northwest of Peyto Hut. http://www.mistayalodge.com/
Yesterday (January 11) one group toured up the Baker glacier (aka Wildcat Glacier) to the Baker-Trapper Col, reaching an elevation of 2800m, and was able to look down onto the Peyto Glacier and Peyto Hut on the Wapta Icefield. Our second group toured up on the SW facing slopes above the lodge to treeline. Stunning views with a clear sky.
The morning temperature of -29 warmed to -20 by mid-day. We observed no new natural avalanche activity. We observed several old slab avalanches from the tail end of the last storm (around January 7th) to size 2.5, mainly initiating from steep rocky areas on lee (NE facing) slopes at around 2400m elevation. The recent storm brought about 25 cm of new snow to the Wildcat basin.
The December 27th surface hoar/facet layer is producing moderate clean shears down approximately 50cm, and the December 9th surface hoar is inconsistently reactive, with hard results. No whumpfing or cracking. There has been moderate southwest wind working the snow surface and transporting snow above 2200m in the alpine. At 2000m there is a 100cm snowpack, and we probed 160cm at 2700m on the Wildcat/Baker Glacier.
Ski quality is generally good in the trees down to 2000m as well as in the alpine with a surprisingly supportive mid-snowpack.
At 08:00 today (January 12) temperatures have warmed to -20 with 2 cm of new snow overnight, and more forecast over the next 4 days.
Jordy Shepherd
Mountain Guide
Terry Palechuk
Ski Guide