Little Yoho Valley, Rockies

<p>We skiied into the comfortable and historic Stanley Mitchell hut in the Poco Yoho valley for four nights via the Takakkaw Falls road. Weather The last day of high pressure was on our ski in (4 April). Then a warm front moved in with rising freezing levels and and precipitation. The remainder of the trip was overcast with low ceilings below summit elevations. Skiing Despite the white, we toured up to Kiwetinok Pass and around the Kerr peaks. We were able to reach the President-VP col and the base of McArthur's north ridge. Glacier coverage was excellent and skiing very good especially above 2300 metres. On 8 April, there was 20 cm of storm snow at 2900 metres. Avalanche observations We saw recent evidence of large (> size 3) avalanches into the basal layer initiated in alpine start zones on every aspect. Most of these were cornice triggered, but the south 2400m moraine of McArthur went size 3 with a solar trigger. Cornices are large, and their debris is running far and fast. We minimised our overhead exposure with the concern of a cornice fall triggering a deeper instability. Windslabs were forming in the alpine on 7th April from moderate southerlies. Tak Falls road There was 5cm of new snow at Tak Falls yesterday morning. This combined with a weak overnight freeze and some near-liquid precip made for a long and tiring walk out to the highway akin to skiing in Vaseline. It really is uphill both ways to Tak Falls... Ken BÉLANGER Adventures365</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Open trees.

Snow Conditions

Wet, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Warm, Cloudy, Foggy.