Bow to Yoho Apr 24-29

Quick report

Weather

warm, cloudy, stormy, wet, sunny, windy

Ride Type

sunnySlopes, convexSlopes, steepSlopes, alpineSlopes, denseTrees, openTrees, mellowSlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

wet, crusty, powder, windAffected, hard, heavy

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSlab

Completed the Bow to Yoho traverse April 24-29, 1 night at bow, 2 nights at Guy, 2 nights at Stanley Mitchell. Overall travel was good with fast travel after a refreeze however a few of the nights there was no refreeze up to at least 2200m. Bow - Guy: Bow glacier depths ranged from 1m to 3m+ with the lowest depths being just above the hut as you enter. Snow bridges held fine but were shallow with depths ~1-1.5m just above the hut at the toe and increasing once you got to the upper elevations of the glacier. Mt Gordon skied well with some nice F-4F wind pressed snow before turning moving into the melt freeze range once below ~2600m. Collie Icefall was easily traversed however did have several open crevasses and numerous sags. Some tracks seemed to travel quite close to these sags/open holes with no noticeable incident. The ridge leading down to Guy hut was easy to find and navigate. Guy hut area: Skied Mt Collie from the summit with no issues. A short book pack was required but you can skin 90% of the way to the summit. Cornice looked intact although there was evidence of some small WL that had come from the ridge. Yoho glacier had a few open crevasses however was easy to travel across with depths averaging around 275cm. Below Guy hut there was evidence of several wet slab avalanches sz 1-2 that had occurred prior to our arrival but were still fresh. The main route from Yoho glacier to Guy Hut did still have some overhead but nothing had run over the existing skin track up. Guy - Stanley Mitchell: The lake below Guy Hut at the toe of the glacier was still frozen over however had a poor refreeze with a semi breakable crust making travel slightly slower but still easy. The creek was open at the far end of the lake but still had many places to cross. Isolated col was simple enough to travel through but there was debris at the edge of the skin track with a significant amount of overhead on Isolated Peak still intact. We moved through while it was still mostly frozen but once the sun had been hitting it snow did begin to shed although nothing of significant volume. Once through the col we skinned to the ridge of Mt McArthur. There was several open holes throughout the glacier. Depths averaged around 250cm. Near the ridge small windslabs were beginning to develop however nothing ran and ski cutting had no results. Travel down to Stanley Mitchell Hut was difficult due to the snowpack becoming isothermal and moving through the dense trees was tricky with a large pack. A group moving a day ahead of us did get injured on their way down to the hut resulting in a heli evac out. Stanley Mitchell Area: We attempted to ski the vice president however was turned back at the pass due to whiteout conditions and strong winds. Travel up to president pass was fairly simple with the glacier being very well covered although the lookers R side had a significant amount of old-new avalanche debris which would make skiing through difficult. The slopes on the President/Vice president held quite a bit of snow and a few large crowns that looked to be a few days old. the bergschrund at the pass still had a snow bridge that was easy to find however we didn't stick a probe in to get a depth due to wanting to move quickly over it. A bootpack to the summit of the Vice President was noted but there were no tracks leading to the summit of the President. Several large deep wet slabs pulling to ground had pulled off Mt Pollinger hitting valley bottom that looked very fresh when we arrived on Apr 27. Stanley Mitchell Hut Special, a feisty pine martin has made its home near the hut and will steal anything left outside and will break into the hut if the opportunity arises. It attempted to steal a ski boot sole one evening and the next it managed to get inside the hut and nearly steal a large block of cheese before getting it lodged behind a bench and then being fought off. Stanley Mitchell Hut - Emerald Lake: Our group skied Emerald pass to Emerald lake for an exit and is definitely worth the adventure if you're up for it. Travel to the pass was simple enough, our group aimed for Kiwetinok Pass then travelled south past Mt Kerr and onto the glacier at emerald pass. The glacier itself has receded a noticeable amount with the lookers L side seeming to be nearly glacier free. On the R side of the glacier there was still a significant amount of crevasses with many open. some small windslabs had started to form on the steeper slopes of Mt Marpole with some debris noted however it was quite old. Skiing down from Emerald pass towards Emerald lake was very entertaining with a significant amount of old WL debris to cross as well as large cornices and deep trenches to battle through. Once at valley bottom the snow disapered quick. We were able to ski to ~ 4km from the lake before swapping to walking down the summer trail. The trail down through the canyon is melted out and would be impassable to skis. Overall the glaciers still had plenty of snow with strong snow bridges but it was still a dry snow year so we roped up on every glacier we travelled on. Travel in the alpine was simple with a burly MFcr on E-W aspects and northly aspects still holding dry snow if the wind hadn't ripped it off yet. Travel BTL was fine when there was a refreeze however this only occurred on our walk into Bow Hut and became very difficult later in the day or when no refreeze had occurred. ~5-10cm fell during our travels with most of it happening Apr 26-29.