Today I ski toured the north west slopes of Cirque Sub-Peak.
The initial plan included looking at Little Jimmy Bowl. On our drive to Bow Summit, we saw little slab avalanche activity except for a Sz 2.5 wind slab the had pulled out near ridge top and had slid into tree line in the centre of the Jimmy Simpson east face. Wind transport was evident on Mts Temple, Olive, Balfour, and Crowfoot.
My group had a great tour in the sun. Where we were, winds were light from the SW. BTL and TL we experienced deep trail breaking in 25cm of new snow and an unsupportive midpack. ALP we experienced 10-15cm of new snow over variable supportive midpack. We had one whumpf on a shallow rocky slope below 30 degrees. ALP coverage on west aspects is variable and shallow.
On the drive back to Lake Louise we observed numerous wind and spindrift slabs that had slid on steep east and northeast slopes below cliffs on Mt Crowfoot (adjacent the Crowfoot Couloir and above Crowfoot Glades). We were happy with our decision to stay away from lee aspects.
Have a safe and great winter.
Brent Peters
Mountain Guide
PeakSTRATAGEM.com
+1(403)688-6907
