We just finished a Wapta Traverse (April 13-17), from Peyto Lake to Sherbrooke Creek.

Travel from Peyto Lake to the Whyte Hut is difficult right now, with a lot of exposed rock making for plenty of transitions between walking and skiing.

A snow and wind event on April 14 caused a minor windslab avalanche cycle. These size 1-2 slabs were failing downslope from ridges and triggered by loose snow avalanches and small cornice falls.

The snowpack on the icefield averaged around 275 cm. Although not particularly thick for this time of year the snow is quite firm and coverage seemed better than the snow depth implies. The route over Balfour High Col is well filled in and the large crevasses beside the nunatak may be passed on either side.

On April 16 we felt a couple of large whumpfs on flat glacial basins in the Scott Duncan Hut area. Today there was widespread wind transport in alpine areas but poor visibility kept us from seeing if there was much avalanche activity associated with the weather.

The exit down the Sherbrooke trail is still reasonable and it was still skis on all the way down.