Jasper Visitor Safety took an early season trip to the Bow Hut to investigate alpine conditions. Up to 2000m was low tide with a HS of 20cm. ~2100-2200m HS of 40-50cm. The ice around the edge of the lake and in the canyon is still very thin and challenging. There are sections of exposed rocks and boulders so to avoid shredding skins or skis too much we opted for some boot packing. Roughly a HS of 50-60cm at Bow Hut. In short, the approach is rugged; we wouldn’t recommend the Bow Hut as a ski destination just yet.

We went with the mindset of thin glacial coverage and to be suspicious of snow bridges. We dug a pit at 2550m on E aspect and a HS of 120cm. We found the October crust near the base of the snowpack with facets above and below. CTM 14 (RP) down 75cm on old windslab and CTM 19, 20 (RP) on top of the October crust 35cm off the ground.

We skied a variety of snow from soft powder to wind hardened slopes to heavily rimed surfaces. When we arrived on the 25th it was still peacefully calm with no wind effect. We summited Mt Rhondda on the 26th with scattered cloud, light to moderate winds and a high of -12. Lots of wind effect in the alpine but no natural avalanche activity was observed during the three days.

We probed anything from 50 to 200cm+ on the glacier but it was highly variable all the way to Mt Rhondda - but with an average of 130cm. The snowpack on the glacier was consistent density but still not quite consolidated to rely heavily on bridging.