Ski ascent of Mt. Field today. The shortcut through the forest is getting covered with debris in the lower 1/2 and lots of melting out down trees, branches etc are making it somewhat difficult. With the good freeze this morning it might have been faster just to walk up the Yoho Valley road in running shoes.

Good uphill travel conditions in shallow dry snow once you got out of the shortcut all the way to the summit.

Excellent downhill pow skiing in the upper 2/3 and manageable moist snow in the lower 1/3 as we came down around noon.

Of note was a large Natural cornice failure late morning from the ridge between Mt. Field and Wapta Mountain. I only saw it obliquely but it ran quite far into moderate terrain and was likely a Size 3 if you took the time to measure the debris. It would certainly have made a mess of anyone in its path.

It is not quite full spring conditions but I was certainly more concerned about cornices and loose wet avalanches out of steep rocky terrain than I was about ski triggered avalanches in moderate terrain. Having said that I backed off of a steep traverse to gain the subpeak of Mt Field that is just skiers right of the first pitch off the summit. With at least one group below me it felt like a very poor, selfish decision to continue into that 40+ degree cold North facing place.

Get after it, only a couple of months of winter left in the Rockies.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide