Banff Yoho Kootenay

Good freeze made for a supportive approach on old tracks. Good travel and supportive freeze in the alpine all day. North aspects softened a little bit for decent corn skiing. Isothermic surviver skiing/ patch skiing on the exit below 2300m in the trees. Whumfing on flat areas in the alpine. Probed 300cm + on the glacier.

Travel up to the headwall was fine on old tracks but uncompacted snow had a poor overnight recovery. The headwall was easilly navigable with solid bootpacking up old debris and a summmer trail which was easy to follow to the flats above. At treeline a solid recovery allowed fast travel to the steeper slope below Little Hector which we were forced to bootpack because of a hard rain crust. From Little Hector to the col below the summit it was mostly windpressed new snow on top of crust which made for easy travel and pretty good skiing on the way down. The summit block was straightforward, though time consuming with a group of 4. Moderate temps and a cool wind meant that only snow below 2400m showed any signs of warming through the day and so we were able to ski all the way to the cliffs at the headwall on the way back. Glacier was simple the navigate but sags are definitely starting to show up.

Minimal fresh debris in the trap at the start of the day. We observed many point releases from Mount Victoria starting at ~8am, resulting in significant debris in the trap by the time we exited (~noon). Conditions were good for the ascent and descent of Lefroy. Return travel across Lake Louise was okay, but occasionally punched through the solid surface layer into slush.

Still lots of incredible corn skiing to be had in the Rockies, however it comes at a price. In the Chickadee valley, expect to suffer through at least 1km of bushwhacking or serious post holing before putting your skis on. There was a lot of evidence of previous avalanche activity, but given colder temps the day and night before, we felt comfortable with route with an early start. We did not witness or hear any new slides or major cornice collapse. Travel after noon in the lower valleys is getting tricky these days with isothermal snow especially in partially shaded areas. Biggest challenge is definitely getting to and from the point where you can put skis on!

Great day out in the Ramp peak area. Started very early before 6am to reach the top of Quartzite before noon. Noted the usual cornice collapse happening across the valley on south east aspects, and later on south aspects. No signs of weakening on the aspects we were on or travelling under. Once back to treeline, snow quality had deteriorated significantly, creating challenging conditions for the descent. Found one slab avalanche that had started to propagate but not released down the slope. We skirted around this area. Highly recommend for spring corn but coverage down in the valley is rapidly thinning. Still able to keep skis on nearly the whole way save for a couple of small dirt patches.

Cornice collapse/fall at 8am from the climber’s left wall about 100m from the top.