Primary concerns at the end of the week were:
- Large cornices. We witnessed cornice failures due to wind loading and expect a cycle of cornice falls to occur in the next warming event.
- Crevasses. Although coverage on the glaciers is generally good, we travelled on rope as much as was practical, taking it off only where we had good visibility and a good knowledge of the terrain.
- Windslabs near ridges, on both west aspects (from the easterly winds early in the week) and east aspects (from more recent west winds), and in cross-loaded areas.
Avalanche Activity was limited to a few thin hard windslabs observed April 16-17. These were on alpine west aspects, size 1 - 2, formed by "upslope" easterly winds. We wonder if those windslabs linger due to the cold temperatures. Later in the week a large cornice fall was observed on an east face during a wind event.
Weather over the week was mixed sun and cloud with 10-20 cm of snow later in the week (depending on location), moderate-strong ridgetop winds, and mostly colder than seasonal temperatures. The exception was Thursday April 18 when the freezing level jumped up to 2400 m in the afternoon.
Highlights of the week included ski descents off Mt Whymper N Face, Cathedral N Couloir, Collier N Face and White Pyramid, in addition to an extended Pat Sheehan Traverse that started/finished on the Athabasca Glacier.
Marc Piché, Mountain Guide
Mark Klassen, Mountain Guide
6 Ski Guide candidates
TRU Ski Guide Exam
