John Fulton and I skied 60k across the icefields north of Banff, Alberta April 15-22. This is a brief account.
Day 1: Canada Highway 93 to the Peyto Hut. We traveled six kilometers accessing the northern most hut by crossing the Peyto Glacier. There were some monster-sized timber wolf tracks along our skin track and we saw the last trees for almost a week of touring.
Day 2: Peyto Hut to Bow Hut. After conferencing with our new pals, Kjersten, Ollie, Eric and Dave we left to ski big ski shot down from Mount Habel. Our "sun with cloud" forecast altered plans to a different ski line off Mount Rhonnda, then halfway up Rhonnda a whiteout left us searching for the Bow Hut using GPS navigation. After reaching the hut we did, however, ski over the Saint Nicholas/Olive Col and skied a shot back in the afternoon. Best to remember where the cliffs are.
Day 3: Bow Hut to Balfour Hut. An ominous weather forecast advanced our schedule by a day. The chosen route from the Bow to the Balfour took us over the Vulture Col to the Vulture glacier and included a great shot of skiing; pop turns up high and steep powder down low.
Day 4: Weathered in at Balfour Hut. A guided group with Yamnuska Mountain Guides under the leadership of Barry Blanchard started at 4:30 a.m. They retreated from the Balfour col due to high winds. We spent much of the day inside the hut and made an expedition outside to "ice-boulder" on exposed ice near the hut using our axes and crampons. One of the mot remote places to be stranded.
Day 5: Balfour Hut to Scott Duncan Hut. Clear skies and smooth sailing over the Balfour high col. It took us three hours to summit, but with good visibility the route was easy. After arriving at the Scott Duncan hut (perched on the side of Mount Daly) we had time to kill and great weather. We summitted Daly in few hours, mostly following boot track leading up the peak. A pleasant couple from Newfoundland arrived at dusk from Hector Lake (Pat and Susie.)
Day 6: Pat and Susie left to climb Mount Balfour and we headed the opposite direction to exit over the Bath Glacier. Avalanche hazard turned us around, and we were forced to retreat to the standard route past Mount Niles. Terrible skiing on punchy crust, but straight forward. Upon exiting at Canada Highway 1 east of Golden we chose to head over Rogers Pass and to Revelstoke. A phenomenal drive and a great way to end a spectacular tour in the Southern Canadian Rockies.
