We tour up to Bow hut and continue to the summit of Mount Olive via St-Nic/Olive col and up the NW ridge.

Weather
Moderate wind from the South West transporting snow at ridge top.
No significant precipitation during the day but visibility was in and out, poor at time.

Sign of instability and Avalanche observation.
We did not see any sign of instability other than a small cornice fall in the canyon, which released sometime during the day.
We did not observe any new avalanches: however limited observation due to weather.

Travel condition.
Height of snow is highly variable on the Wapta Ice field. The toe of the glacier just above Bow Hut had 300cm +, whereas in the middle of the glacier going toward Olive (about 2800), HS was 125cm.

Ski penetration on the glacier ranged from 5-15 cm of wind effected snow. But foot penetration was up to 50 cm, while boot packing up the ridge of Olive, (lots of snow transport).

We skied down the East side of Mount St Nic, enjoying a 20 cm of nice powder all the way down to the end of the glacier.

Fred Amyot
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide