I guided a Wapta Traverse beginning at Peyto Lake trailhead early on April 21 and exiting Sherbrooke Lake yesterday April 26.

We had typical mid spring conditions -- great in the alpine and rough below treeline. I don't think a day or even weekend trip to the Wapta right now would be worth the effort. But if you're planning an extended ski mountaineering adventure, you're up for the challenge, and the temps continue to cooperate then get high and stay high: you'll be well rewarded.

Few natural avalanches were observed in the alpine even during the hottest days -- some loose wet and wet slab later in the day in steep, solar, rocky terrain. We steered clear of solar aspects as the crust broke down by early afternoon.

The weather throughout the week was an aesthetic mixed bag that never shut us down, ranging from stellar blue skies going over the Balfour High Col to slashing rain the evening after we rolled into Bow Hut. Alpine temps ranged from highs of +15 early in the week down to a low of -5 at 05:00 yesterday, with good crust recoveries every night.

Peyto Lake was still in great shape a week ago but this has likely changed since then. The route from the lake elevation to Peyto hut required a couple of kilometers of walking with skis off but was otherwise fine.

We skied Peyto Glacier from the top of Haebel to its terminus; Rhonda's E face; Gordon's normal route; Olive's W bowl; Diablaret Glacier; and Balfour Glacier. These had fun corn skiing and easy travel. Ski crampons were useful several times. On the way up to Balfour High Col we swung out briefly towards the E face of Balfour rather than straight up the steep & crevassed passage next to the cliff ("Hourglass").

There are a couple of surprise crevasses to watch out for -- the one near the top of the Diablaret (right in the fall line) and another near the bottom of the Vulture Gl, well below the icefall and also in the fall line, come to mind.

Yesterday descending from Scott Duncan hut we had an early start and a strong freeze. Heaven help you if you are lacking either of those these days and find yourself in the trees.

The Schiesser-Lomas route provided a straightforward descent to the valley bottom on hard melt-freeze crusts. From there, the canyon you soon encounter on skier's left (E) is not passable. We traversed right (W) through the woods and found that to be manageable all the way to the lake with a fair bit of careful survival skiing.

We crossed Sherbrooke Lake. If you choose to do the same right now, in addition to a solid overnight freeze you'll benefit from nerves of steel and a sixth sense about the status of the underlying ice. The lake was flooded with watery slush covered by a sometimes-supportive crust. We teetered on the rails of old frozen tracks, which made it reasonable.

We kept our skis on until the last kilometer and a half before the highway where windfall, isothermal snow and patches of bare trail slowed us down. It took us about 7 hours to get from Scott Duncan hut to Great Divide Lodge travelling at a very relaxed pace.

If I had to do another Wapta in the near future I would probably choose to start at Sherbrooke Lake and head north. I'd flip a coin on the decision to exit via Peyto or Bow.

There is good cellular coverage from the ridge between the Bath Glacier and Lilliput Pk.

Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA