Hi all,

I just finished guiding a 6-day ski mountaineering basecamp on the Freshfields Icefields in Banff National Park from April 26th to May 1st. We flew in/out by helicopter to the BC/Alberta border (Helmer-Barlow col) from Golden BC. We established our camp at 2630m on the upper Freshfields glacier about 1km North of mount Helmer. We made day trips in various directions between 3250m and 2370m predominantly on Northerly aspects in the Eastern sections of the Freshfields Icefields. We summited Mount Trutch, Nanga Parbat, Gilgit and Barlow while the weather was nice.

It was sunny and hot for the first 3 days with daytime highs reaching nearly 20C at 2630m! That said overnight lows ranged from -7C to -2C during that time. The overnight freeze provided good morning traveling conditions on firm crust along with low hazard until early afternoon. The last 3 days were unsettled with light to moderate precipitation, light winds from the West and cooler temperatures. The area received up to 25cm of storm snow between April 29-May 1 which provided good powder skiing on northerly aspects and variable (moist/crusty) surfaces on solar aspects. This new snow was bonding well to the crust which was buried April 29th. Winds were calm to light for the duration hence the new snow was evenly distributed. There was a large avalanche cycle on solar aspects during the first 3 days. We saw numerous loose wet & wet slab avalanches in steeper terrain ranging from size 1 to 3 in afternoons. There was hardly anything moving on Northerly aspects. That said we noticed a few deep persistent slab releases to size 2.5 (old & new) on very steep North facing rocky terrain near mountain top which appear to have been triggered by cornice falls.

Overall skiing conditions ranged from fair to excellent. With good timing, corn snow was very good on solar aspects early in the week and powder skiing excellent on Northerly aspects last few days. Coverage on the glacier was greater than 350cm and crevasses were generally well bridged but starting to sag with recent heath. Boot packing and cramponing along alpine ridges offered good traction with foot penetration ranging from 0-30cm. Most normal ascent routes and ridges in this area appear in great shape.

All in all, a fun ski mountaineering week with advanced Spring conditions in the high country of the Canadian Rockies.

Cheers,

David Lussier
mountain guide
summitmountainguides.com