East Side 93N

Walked with ski boots on for first 75m then switched over to skis and walked on a supportive refrozen crust up the valley on the shadey side of the creek. Surprisingly good travel up to around the water falls where we had to return to ski boots for a brief period of time. Rest of travel was excellent with a very dense consolidated snow pack on the glacier. Very good to excellent coverage on the glacier with no visible sags. We roped up closer to the top bench when snow pack got below 2m. The wind exposed slopes around 3100m had around 140cm deep of coverage. Top pitch was full probe deep - 320cm. Most of the glacier had a full 320cm probe with spots around 285cm. Lookers left side was shallower then the lookers right side. Powder snow skiing from 3300 down 150m to 200m. To 3100m Lots of visible wet loose avalanches in the valley size 1 - 2 other then direct norths. Lower elevation sun affected aspects are completely melted out. Things are going to change fast with the incoming temperature change. See Bens post for his take on things. Good skiing for late May!

Wet snow but supportive up to the waterfall. Patchy skinning on the shady side of the creek and dry hiking on the sunny side. Mostly dry going around the waterfall. easy travel on the glacier with 80-150 cm on the toe. An average 280 in the middle flat section. And between 100 to 240cm on the upper section The last pitch before the summit block we found 30cm with new settled dense snow on the crust. There was some small facets on the crust with 10cm of moist snow and 20 cm of dryer wind effect snow above. Another party turned around because they of it. On the way up ther was a 2 cm crust below 3150m on North aspects with dryer powder snow above. The crust was a bit hooky to start but softened up below 2800m. Below 2400m there was 20cm of mushy heavy snow on a supportive base late in the afternoon. Skied down patchy supportive snow below the waterfall almost to the road but that will not last long. Several wet loose avalanches up to size two over the last couple days on all aspects and elevations except high North. If you use the website you can add photos, the app isn't working as great.

Good freeze overnight but soft enough for easy skinning. Dropped the north glacier at 11am with perfect corn skiing, smooth as can be. Descended the mother's Day couloir below the glacier down to 2350m where it got steeper and became isothermic from the morning sun. 0c at 2950m but 11c at the car at 330pm West aspect are shallow from the winters wind and are more susceptible to slab avalanches in the late afternoon. It got warm and green housed between 3-4pm which started some convective flurries. Solar aspects with less than 1m of snow were isothermic at treeline late in the afternoon. Supportive in the trees at the end of the day.

Great day out on Hector! Coverage on the glacier is still healthy with probes ranging from 140 to 240 with healthy crusts that provided some decent resistance when probing. Though there are some thin looking windstripped sections near the top that we roped up for. Snow in the alpine remained dry through our travels. moving towards treeline around 1400 surface snow becoming moist leading to fun corn skiing bellow the waterfall. Glad to have started early, but didn'tfeel as if we where cutting it close. With warmer days to come may be different. Be aware that the bolted anchor that the hand line is attached to has had bolt come loose and fallen off leaving the chain hanging from one bolt. Not ideal for rapel. Fortunately there is another rappel station just up the snow slope on the face climbers right of the last bit to the summit. See 4th photo. It will require a 70m rope to rap off of though (shout out to the party from Jasper that summited with us that happened to bring one❤️)

Weak overnight recovery. Fast travel up Noseeum Cr and the south facing couloir onto the plateau below Andromache. Lots of goat tracks up there. Low valley cloud but clear skies above in the morning. At around 1030 clouds started to build and move in. We roped up on the lower section of the Andromache glacier and probed variable depths between 110 and 260cm, the tongue of the glacier is scoured and there is some exposed ice. We encountered some thin wind slab building in the middle of the slope that was reactive but did not want to propagate (yet). Skiing was ok with a couple nice turns up high but we had limited vis. Exited through the slot canyon couloir feature. Lower elevation features where warming up and becoming isothermic when we left at 1230.

Our group dug 3 pits at 2300m. 0-3cm ice crust 3-25cm moist round crystals (4 fingers) 25-50cm rounds (pencil) Thin ice layer 50-100cm facets (fist) One pit had PWL still apparent at 70cm, NE facing slope. 3 compression tests showed: No reaction M11, resistive planar collapse at 8-10cm H27, resistive planar at 50cm Turned All Moist eARly Afternoon This was part of AST2 course with Alpine Air. Thanks to our guides who wish to remain anonymous.

Pretty good refreeze overnight with a 7 am start from the car. Throwing on regular crampons and just booting up the waterfall made it go much quicker than fighting it. Ski crampons helpful for the top portion of the glacier. Didn’t do the rock step as it was a bit more involved than anticipated but other groups did without much discontent. Down low was plenty warm by the afternoon and from waterfall down was corny. Would not want to be riding that luge track in a big freeze. No real concerns of note, minimal wind and sun, pretty locked in snowpack, beautiful day all day long and good vibes at the Col.

Good travel up hector this morning with solid overnight freeze. Ski crampons helpful but not essential. Boot crampons handy for the summit block and for booting the debris below the headwall in the morning. Good coverage on glacier with some exposed ice on the steeper roll. A couple solar releases from steep terrain on little hector mid morning. Solid crust remained intact in the ALP descending from 2 to 3pm. A bit softer on the slopes below the headwall at 3pm, but very supportive. Picture of the slab release above the headwall. Likely the one reported earlier this week.

One of several parties to ski Hector today. The day started with a dense fog in the valley but gave way to partly sunny skies with a cloud lingering on the summit block that cleared by 2:00. The snow had a decent refreeze on the ascent through the waterfall section and lots of traffic made travel quick. The glacier skied decent with some wind affect, but didn’t notice any slabbing. The wind had picked up up on exit by 3pm and significant warming in the lower section, we noticed small wet slides pouring off the walls north of the creek and hastened our pace. Once through the waterfall section we noticed a large D2 wet slide that had likely just occurred covering many ascent and descent tracks. 2nd hand report from a group down climbing the gully confirmed the wet slide had occurred around 3:30-3:45. Luckily all parties descending were ok.

Did about 75% of Hector but low visibility and turn around time caused us to pull the plug. Very skiable on the way down still. No crampons or ice axes used but crampons would have helped for the crux. No signs of instability. Glacier looked well covered.

Toured up Andromache from the Hector approach and skied down Molar. No signs of instabilities today. Lots of tracks below little Hector - 2 groups today decided to go climbers left of the serac instead of the right hand version. Ski crampons useful at times in alpine. Gigantic wind lip to enter Molar line - we actually belayed one skier down to find a way to enter. No shrund visible this year - bare ice at toe of glacier. Slot canyon well filled in.

Toured up Andromache from the Hector approach and skied down Molar. No signs of instabilities today. Lots of tracks below little Hector - 2 groups today decided to go climbers left of the serac instead of the right hand version. Ski crampons useful at times in alpine. Gigantic wind lip to enter Molar line - we actually belayed one skier down to find a way to enter. No shrund visible this year - bare ice at toe of glacier. Slot canyon well filled in.

Skied Ramp Peak on Friday. There’s a good track leading up from the road to the bowl above Mosquito Creek Campground, so travel was fast. On the alpine slopes of the peak the snow was very wind hardened, leading us to bootpack the last 200m. Ski crampons would help immensely. There was evidence of the large avy cycle. The N aspect of Noseeum slide but didn’t reach the skin track. Picture included. Noticed older wet slides across the valley on the west side of the highway. Pinwheels as the sun came out and snowpack warmed. The snow was variable. On west aspects there was a melt crust forming within open trees, and heavy wind effect on anything above the tree line. NE aspects and sheltered areas were great, with roughly 10-15cm of unconsolidated powder sitting atop a firm snowpack. Snow on the peak was very variable; pockets of powder mixed with concrete hard patches of icy snow. Dug a pit at 2500m on a NW aspect before heading up to the alpine slopes. Snowpack was 220cm; 10cm of powder on top of 1 finger snow. Snowpack showed facets at the base, but was very consolidated throughout. ECTX CTN Weather was overcast and windy throughout the morning, but the sun came out on the descent. The sun affected the snow immediately, with rollers appearing on many steep slopes. We rode the drainage out, where the was many pinwheels and evidence of past avalanches on solar aspects. The skin track was wet and sticky on the way back as the day continued to warm and the sun was shining. Overall a decent day. Not sure if the skiing was worth the slog, but great views. The summit registry has joints, a lighter, and a butt plug; so something for everyone. Better get up there while they’re still there (if they are still there).

Skied Mt Hector via the North glacier. Below treeline we found 10-15cm of heavy snow on top of a supportive crust. Good bootpacking coming past the waterfall on the left side, ice axes were useful gaining the steep crusty upper sections, crampons would've been nice had we put them on. Old debris up to size 2 all around the waterfall. Conditions on the glacier vary, but are generally good. We probed an average of at least 250cm, although did scrape thinly buried ice on a windward slope around 3200m, ski crampons were helpful for this short section but we didn't use them otherwise. A few sags noted around 2900m. Snow conditions changes from settled and wind effected on the lower glacier to deep powder above 3250m. Some cracking propagating less than a meter of the skis but we couldn't get anything to move stomping above the skintrack. Hand shears produced fractures with moderate force in the progressively resistant F-4F upper snowpack. There is a shiny anchor with a rappel ring and handline made of 7mm cord near the top of the crux section just lookers right of the summit block. Didn't notice much sun fading or visible damage on the rope.

Observed wind effect at 2000m 20cm of low density snow at treeline and below treeline

Skied Crystal Ridge from 2520m. 15-20cm low density HST overlies March 21st crust present to 2400m. Dug at 2340 SW (2 profiles), Jan24 dn 85-90, CTN x 2, ECTX x 2.

10-15cm of new snow sliding on top of wind affected snow on steep slopes (top pitch). Snow was getting better the more we got down the slope. Day was cold in the morning and changed to really hot when the sun came out directly affecting the sunny slopes with heavy radiation (11h30am to 15h30). We saw many skiers coming from dolomite trail heading to Oxo and skiing it down (around 12). Snow was well supporting midslope all the way down to the bottom of the valley and was feeling heavier because of radiation but still good skiing. Wind was calm all day until 16h where moderate gusts started to appear with light to moderate winds from the NW. Easy hand shear test BTL down 60cm (not measured) on FC. No other tests were done during the day.

Our group dug a pit and did CT and ECT on 30 degree slope. No result on either test (ECTX). In examining the snowpack, we found a layer down 44 cm and another down 85 cm. The latter fractured on a hard shovel shear, on what appeared to be faceted snow; possibly 24 Jan crust.

Crusty and wind affected on alpine slopes, mid and lower slopes among trees had deep powder. Solid pack, no slabbing or whumphing. About 18cm fresh powder where it didn't blow away.

Travel on south and west aspects was crusty, while north and east were wind affected, but we did find some decent turns off the high col. After observing some whumpfing and settling as we descended a NE slope toward Lake Katherine, we decided against doing yo-yos.

Good day up mt Hector, 8h00 round trip. Weather was colder than expected, with gusty wind all day long. We were suprised by the low snowpack on pretty much the whole route (except waterfall that is all skiable on the way down). The glacier is filled in, with only a few crevasses visible (center right of glacier). The last part of the climb have big icy patch below it from the high wind. We noticed a small windslab above 3000m, but only 5-10cm thick. Did a handshear in the last pitch in a snow pocket and did not get any result. Snow is bulletproof almost everywhere except on low angle slope on the glacier. Ski quality was ok sometimes, but globally terrible. I would not expect any avalanche considering there is no snow (see pictures) Today was more about the views than the ski quality, but still a solid day out.

-17 in Lake Louise, -5 at Bow Summit, +5 at 15:00, Strong SW to W winds starting at noon. 30 cm low density on crust layer. CT12 SP down 30; facet layer at 50 cm. Solar aspect, BTL. Lots of sign of wind slab avalanche activity up to size 2.5 on Lee and cross loaded slopes. 1 settlement BTL. Peyto Lake Lookout road not plowed but plow parked at Crowfoot lookout at end of day is making its way north.

Between 1300 and 1700, we heard two large avalanches from the Balfour Wall bench. We did not see debris anywhere in eyesight. Snow leading up to Balfour was 10-20cm of powder, sitting on a surface-level crust. Upon driving out of Icefields, we witnessed evidence of a slab avalanche on the west facing aspect of the prominence above Waterfowl Lake (picture provided).

Great day on Helen Ridge with marginal skiing conditions with about 5-10cm over a supportive crust. Skied the burnt trees in the bowl, a few other groups chose bigger lines up by sitting bull. Alpine was wind blasted, conditions were better in the glades but still crusty. The bottom 1/4 of the ski out was not great- sketchy survival skiing. Helen Lake trailhead is probably a better move for this zone than parking on the road unless there’s a lot more snow.

Skied from Mosquito Cr-Observation sub peak drainage via the Dolomite traverse route + Cirque N couloir after bailing on our original plan due to overnight winds. Overall cloudy day with pockets of sun in the morning. Winds picked up in the afternoon mostly Mod with gusts into strong. Snowing lightly all morning and picking up around 2pm. We covered a lot of terrain and had decent vis. Saw 2 older sz 1 windslabs. Windslabs and wind effect was widespread in the ALP and at TL but slabs felt stubborn/un reactive. Cirque N needs 2 30m raps currently.

Good day on Cirque Forepeak. Hard and wind affected up high, but lots of fresh snow lower down in the open glades.

A few parties on Mt. Hector today, no signs of instability that we noted and good coverage with minimal sags on the glacier. Snow depth of about 150cm on the upper section near the summit block. Access on the waterfall section is well filled in but made a bit challenging by the large layer of sugar snow under the temp/sun crust. Skiing was good on the glacier with crusty powder underneath 20cm of fresh snow. Upper sections were wind affected but still decent. Lower down the crust became more pronounced and ski quality decreased.

Headed out to Crystal Ridge, following summer trail. Some trail making needed as not an obvious path but followed the general upward track before breaking out of treeline. Saw some skiers above us, but not busy at all. Snow coming down around Bow Lake made for some great powder turns and sun came out for a great day on the parkway! Some clear avalanche terrain on way up but skied nothing more than 25° angle.

A lovely Dolomite Shoulder day to taste the sun. Mostly wind-smashed snow-on-crust, very directional, very cream cheesy. One crack seen/heard on the skin up, about halfway. Stuck to a very mellow descent.

Dust on crust on the face, as we expected but decided on a walk anyway. Ski crampons might have made the final push to the top easier, but it was workable without them as long as extra effort was put in to establish the skin track. Highly recommend some sharp edges for this one, there's no breaking through that crust. I was surprised that the top 2-5cm of powder sitting on the crust wasn't sluffing away as we skied, but maybe that would be expected on a steeper slope instead. Tree skiing to the exit was in better shape, with wind deposited powder and a less prominent crust layer.

Skied the backside of Crystal Ridge & the Cirque N Couloir. The alpine is generally wind hammered, though more sheltered polar aspects had 10cm of 4F making for decent skiing. No evidence of new wind slab in the areas travelled. Currently a 40m rap gets you to the snow in the couloir.

skied the sugar cube, quality skiing on the feature, soft chalky to dust of crust on the fan. we skied some solar slopes on the way back to the car with ski quality going from bullet proof sun crust to some sweet corn harvesting around 2400m.

Firm. Observation sub peak north glacier and couloir skied either smooth knife boilerplate windslab/suncrust or pencil sastrugi. Skinning was tough up any wind or sun exposed slopes with 0cm ski pen much of the way. Surface snow on southwest aspects was moist down 5-10cm by 2pm with occasional size one wet loose entraining off the ski. Decent corn skiing for February. Minor wind transport at ridge top but minimal accumulation in the lees and nothing reactive. TLDR: firm.

Warm wet and sticky snow from the car to ~2300m. Travel improved significantly on wind affected surfaces at tree line and above. Very strong gusts of wind out of the NE with significant snow transport in the alpine. Turned around at ridgeline due to wind. Ski down was mix of crusts, sastrugi, and dust on crust in the alpine, with soft snow at TL that got wetter as we descended.

A few inches of light and fluffy snow! Overall great conditions considering how little snow we have had lately. As you got further up snow was getting a bit crusty. Stayed away from rocky areas where the snowpack transitioned from thick to thin.

We booted up. Snow was hard and wind scoured. Higher up in the couloir a wind crust was developing and kept getting thicker with sugary weak snow underneath. Not good skiing, iffy conditions. Not worth it.

No reaction from the test, firm consolidated snow from surface all the way to ground.

Moderate NW winds with alpine high -5. Winds in the Bow Summit area kept the snow dryer over the last couple days than the Pulpits. Didn't find much sun crust but lots of wind affect in the alpine. Found short pitches of good snow on the lower south slopes of Observation subpeak and NE trees of Crystal ridge. Had a look at skiing the north glacier of observation subpeak but looked too cold and dark and the top was wind hammered probably would have been good lower down.

Just a dusting of snow in the tracks up to the Murchison bowl. No sign of any instabilities in the snow, whether on the traverse to the base of Continuum or at the base of Murchison. By the end of the day at the base of the climb I would estimate the temperature was above freezing.

Went for a mosey up Noseeum Creek. Anything not protected by trees was noticably wind affected. A pit at the base of Noseeum Couloir found a supportive and right side up snow pack, with no failure in column test. The couloir it self was crusty, with riding quality improving (slightly...) as you descend.

Went for a ski up Puzzle Peak Ramp. New snow made for easy travel below treeline. The ramp was a mix of wind affected snow with some localized windslab, crust and powder, alternating between sunny skies and howling wind. Hollow sounding snow at one point on uptrack, and evidence of a Size 2 dry loose avalanche in steep terrain off Oxo peak, likely from earlier this week. We found a powder line with some breakable crust to ride down the ramp, but need to pick your line carefully as the slope is fairly wind scoured and lots of sharks. Soft snow below treeline made for a smoothe exit through the trees.

Snow was 140-160cm deep, no obvious crusts found, and snow was quite compact throughout. Weak layer at 120cm (CT 10-10-3). Snowed ~ 10cm during the day so small storm slabs seen while skiing, but nothing out of the norm at tree line. We saw nothing once we dropped into the trees. Ski from top to bottom was pretty enjoyable with good fun snow all the way to the car. Heard a large avalanche across the valley (West of us) but did not see or hear anything else due to conditions.

Arrived at the start of the skin track around 9 a.m. and began heading up before 9:30. It was a cold morning with no wind. The snow quality was good with no signs of instability. From the roadside up through the trees to about 2400 m, the snow didn’t seem too wind-affected. Near the top of the lower ridge, there were some bare spots, wind effect, and a fair amount of rock exposure. The south side valley around Hector South Ridge looked wind-affected and wind-loaded, though there appears to be enough snow, it just might be a bit unstable. Still plenty of soft, untracked snow to enjoy out there. Stay safe and have a great New Year Everyone!

Sunny morning brought temps up to about -4C, but the wind was bitter. By noon the clouds rolled in, and temps dropped. We stayed at tree line, no whumping or cracks, but the snow started to get more and more compacted. Did not tickle the dragon today. Bow Summit access road is plowed, but the parking lot is NOT. Limited parking, we saw approx 6 others headed up Bow Summit, no one followed us. Kudos for plowing Highway 93N, there’s a lot of snow, big snowbanks, bring your shovel and watch out for people parked, it gets narrow at times. We farmed the snow pretty good, not much room left….

Welcome back Minfluencees! We went up the west shoulder of mosquito peak and had great travel up the summer trail and BTL with an average of 50 with a supportive crust down 20-30. The crust disappeared at tree line on all but steeper solar slopes. The alpine was highly variable with exposed slopes being barely at threshold(or below). We found no slab properties throughout our day expept for ridge top immediate lees, primarily on southern aspects. Some minor sluffing on steep northern aspects. Skiing was very good in sheltered tree line slopes with up to 30 of fist- on top of a supportive mid pack. HS up to 80. No other tracks out there yet ;) The MINfluencer message of the week is it’s still shark season out there so be careful…

Skied Hector today. ~1hr hiking in ski boots before we were able to start skinning(2200m, just above the waterfall. Still plenty of postholing BTL so trail runners/hiking boots might not be the move for another week or so. From 2200m to the summit there was ample coverage. We ascended the climbers left side of the glacier as the right had many open holes. On the glacier, average 10 up to 20cm of dry fist snow above a bomber crust. Slight wind skin in spots with steady light transport most of the day. Snowing s-1 on and off, heavy greenhouse effect in the pm. Pow on glacier, corn to the waterfall @13:00. Iso to ground in the BTL @14:00. Summit block had a fixed line of 6mm cord going 15m past the bolted anchor tied to two pieces of tat on a boulder. Tat and cord looked to be in good shape. Low vis so was hard to see adjacent peaks. A couple large avalanches on the east face of Bow Peak in between Grand Daddy and West Nile. It also looked like the snow line extended further down on the west side of the highway. No recent avalanches noted on Hector/Little Hector aside from the occasional size 1 point release out of steep rocky terrain.