I completed a Wapta trek over June 23-25 for OnTop Mountaineering.

On June 23, we hiked in to the Bow hut on dry trails and under mostly clear skies.

On June 24 we had clear skies overnight but limited overnight recovery. The recent 20cm of snow from earlier this week has melted quickly and is no more than 10cm at the toe of the glacier. Conditions are much different up higher on the ice below Mount Thompson. Because of the limited overnight recovery we encountered a mix of conditions from limited to no foot penetration to post holing 60cm. Overall, I observed a limited amount of sagging crevasses on the trip from Bow Hut to Peyto Hut.

On June 25, we had an early start under overcast skies. The glacier below Peyto Hut has limited to almost no snow on it. This limited snow cover made for easy travel around the crevasses to the toe of the glacier. By mid morning, the clouds had dissipated and we hiked out under mostly clear skies on dry trails. Peyto Creek was easily forded where the trail drops down on to the flats off the end of the moraine.

Brad Schalles
Mountain Guide