Mount Saint Nicholas Wapta Icefield
Good 2 day trip on the shortest days of the year with Kevin, Wietse, Vern, Kelly and Steven. Steven did great given that it was his second backcountry ski trip and his first time with a heavy pack on skis to a hut. Good coverage up on glacier and in the canyon for this early in the year.
The high winds and new snow eliminated most of the tracks which slowed us down a bit on the way in and made for some issues in the trees on the way out. We have come out of here dozens of times but with poor visibilty it all looked different. After crossing the gully from crowfoot we entered the trees too high at the start(should have listened to Vern!) and then eventually went too low by the end of the canyon and then had to climb up a bit across the talus slope to drop down to the normal exit slope to the creek(cut back skiers left and down just before next set of trees). You can continue into trees and find two more ways down into the canyon depending on snow coverage. Shallow coverage in places and poor visibility lead to lots of rock strikes.
Skiing was great in the bowl above the hut and the food was fantastic. Rock salted steaks and jumbo prawns in the wood stove were amazing.
Not much for my pics as I only went up for one run in the bowl on Friday – so some pics of Steven and Kevin on the Onion and I did one run on Sat.
Pics at Bow Hut Wapta Dec 2012
Steven’s Pics Onion and Vulture
Kevin’s pics Summits for Seniors – great cause.
