Just returned from guiding a great ski traverse with Tom Wolfe starting just above Ventigo Lake and skiing across to Fairy Meadows over the course of a week. We were able to climb and ski Iconoclast, Argentine Mountain, Centurion Ridge and Sentinel Peak along the way and had generally good to excellent travel and ski conditions throughout the week! Great treeline camping and North facing ski runs throughout.
Spring is finally arriving in the alpine with firm crusts on solar aspects in the morning and moist snow on all but high North aspects in the afternoon. We used ski crampons quite a bit during our last three days which was very useful on the steeper slopes. Ski conditions on N aspects remained good until yesterday but were beginning to show signs of the warmer temperatures by this morning. Below 1800m the snow is starting to have an isothermal feel to it on the surface, but still provided good travel especially in the morning.
Glacier coverage was excellent with more than 3m of snow in all but the most wind blown areas of ice. The bergschrunds on Iconoclast and Argentine still remain a concern as do some areas in Fairy Meadows such as Pioneer Pass. I think most of these have seen avalanches on the basal facets at some point during the winter and are thinly bridged.
We did not see any new avalanches other than a few solar triggered loose slides on steep south aspects in the afternoon during our week. We did still have some minor concerns for small wind slabs on steep N aspects from the Thursday storm but this seems to be improving daily. No whumphing and no significant results in the snow pack tests we did during the week. Seems like a pretty good time to have a look at the bigger lines in the area.
An excellent traverse with great company and a fun way to explore the Northern Selkirks!
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Trip photos at www.banffmountainguides.com