We were doing some work on weather stations on the Wapta yesterday and had a good look around. Overall, coverage seems pretty good on the glaciers with 220 -
300 + cms in all areas probed. In general, there seemed to be less and smaller avalanche activity in the high alpine of the icefields (above 2500m). The avalanches we did see were smaller, generally cornice triggered and likely wind or storm slabs instead of persistent slabs. This makes sense as the windy conditions of the icefields likely destroyed any persistent weak layers before they were buried. We dug a pit on the Diableret glacier which reflected this theory and got no significant shears in the top 130cm. You can see our snow profile here: https://goo.gl/8Tci1p

The balfour high col seemed workable, but narrower than other years and a few more sags in the terrain above the crux than I remember from previous years. More terrain photos of the wapta can be found here: https://goo.gl/GLGb9a

Still lots of evidence of the ongoing natural cycle in the lower alpine and at treeline, and as I write this, we are preparing for the next major storm and ensuing avalanche cycle over the next few days.

It is a good time to stay out of avalanche terrain, and even with the seemingly better conditions at higher elevations, we stuck to low angle terrain without overhead hazard.

Stay safe out there

Ian Jackson and Aaron Beardmore
ACMG Mountain Guides
Banff, Yoho & Kootenay National Parks