Mount Gordon (Wapta)

<p>Because of the forecast we chose to go for a long walk with lower angle objectives. I do this tour every year sometimes earlier in the season this is the lowest amount of snow I have seen. The approach slope to Bow Hut has just enough coverage to make it passable up and down no obvious signs of instability were observed on that. The Toe of the glacier skied the best, soft, light snow. Above that toward the Olive, St. Nick Col travel was easy but the Col and ridge of Mount Olive are entirely exposed rock. Crossing the Glacier toward Gordon there were some obvious holes, we roped up and the snow felt well supported, a bit of probing did not show large holes so we crossed to Gordon. The lowest amount of snow I have seen on the glacier at this time of year however would not have me exploring very deep on the Wapta yet. Mount Gordon was a low angle slog through half a foot of ski penetration powder. To gain the final ridge you travel over a wind (ice) lip feature which navigated fine towards its low spot. We didn’t have good visibility in this area but travel was similar to in the past albeit with a lot more exposed rock. We skied out faster than coming in with good coverage to the car. This is a fun day with proper glacier gear, route finding, good visibility and enough fitness. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Foggy.