We spent the last two days and one night at Bow Hut. We had originally planned the Wapta traverse N-S but the cold weather forecast changed our plans.

The walk to the hut yesterday was straightforward, albeit with low snow cover on some moraines.
Then we skiied the climber's right side of Bow Glacier where the snow is always the deepest probing 2m50+. I avoided the bigger, steeper lines on climber's left with a thinner snowpack.

This morning at the hut we awakened to 17 cm of low density snow that fell overnight bringing the new snow total to approx 30 cm in this zone. Winds were calm all day. I found no signs of surface wind or storm slabs on our descent from the hut nor our tour in the Ferris glacier moraines. Ski quality was very good, although some of this snow perfectly hid rocks that were difficult to see in the flat light conditions.

The only avalanches observed were several loose dry in 40+ degree terrain stopping mid-track in the cold snow.

Temperatures today:
7h30 at Bow Hut 2350 metres: -20.5C
14h00 below Little Crowfoot peak 2400 metres: -16C
16h00 Bow Lake parking lot 1920 metres: -14C

Ken
Elevation Guides