Wapta

Riding quality was:

OK

Snow conditions were:

• Crusty
• Hard
• Heavy
• Powder
• Wet
• Wind affected

We rode:

• Alpine slopes
• Mellow slopes

We stayed away from:

• Convex slopes
• Steep slopes

The day was:

• Stormy
• Warm
• Windy

Avalanche conditions

• Slab avalanches today or yesterday.
• 30cm + of new snow, or significant drifting, or rain in the last 48 hours.
• Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.
• Rapid temperature rise to near or above 0°C or wet surface snow.

Attempted Wapta traverse. Turned around below Balfour High Col due to warm stormy conditions and poor visibility. Strong winds over the last few days lead to significant wind transport. Temperatures increased to near zero on March 13th depth of new snow was challenging to determine with the strong winds.

Natural avalanches noted off steeper terrain, but loudy conditions limited observations. A pit on the moraines above Balfour Hut (2500m), NW aspect, 30 deg, HS 340+ cm, showed two CTE 4 SP shears in the storm snow down 15 cm and 26 cm and a CTH 26 SP down 60 cm on decomposing surface hoar.

On the bright side, lots of practice with whiteout navigation this week!!