THE WAPTA WHITEOUT TRAVERSE

Crossing Peyto Lake

In March of 2013, my husband Glenn, friends Deb and Steve, and myself along with another client from Japan and two guides Nick and Takeshi decided to tackle the classic Wapta ski traverse in the Canadian Rockies. We opted for the longer hut-to-hut version of the trips offered by Yamnuska Mountain Adventures that begins at Peyto Lake. 

Pre trip-March 9th: Meeting at the Yamnuska Offices, our group met our guides and we had a meeting to discuss the trip objectives and to check gear. We also split up some of the food we had to carry and made sure everything was set and ready to go for the next day. Our plan was to head to the Peyto hut for 2 nights, the Bow Hut for 1 night, the Balfour hut for 1 night, and the Scott Duncan Hut for 1 night. Let's go!

Day 1-March 10th Peyto Lake to Peyto Hut (2500m/8200ft) The first real day of the trip, we met at the office at 7am and were on the road from Canmore to the Icefields Parkway to be dropped off at a small parking lot past the main Peyto Lake area. After a quick beacon check and some photo-ops, we descended an icy luge run through the trees to the Peyto Lake. Looking back, this may have been the sketchiest part of the trip. Full packs, tight turns and little room for error! Finally at the lake, we donned the skins, crossed the lake and started ascending. Steep sections meant mastering the uphill kick turn, and avalanche prone areas meant crossing one at a time. Finally out of the trees and into the alpine, we had to take off our skis at one point because of an area of exposed gravel. Hiking up hill in ski boots with our skis strapped on our packs, we realized quickly that the gravel wouldn't last too long and we were back on snow. We skinned down to an old glacier research station and finally onto the glacier itself. The slog up the glacier took time-we sucked the air and every 10 steps or so had to stop to suck in an extra breath. Looking up over to our left we finally saw it! The Peyto Hut lies over 2200ft higher than the Peyto Lake and 4000ft higher than Canmore. I was sure glad to get to the hut that night! A delicious chicken curry dinner was just what we need to fill our bellies and enjoy the 18 person hut all to ourselves.

Day 2- Peyto Glacier Ski Day: Today was to be a powder ski day out from the hut. After a rollercoaster past few days working, catching planes, time changes and elevation gain of over 8000ft, I came down with an 'overtired' migraine headache. I opted out of today's adventures but the gang, after a knot and crevasse rescue morning refresher, headed out onto the glacier for some powder fun. Debbie had never skiied in powder before as 4 of us are Easterners so it was an exciting day for everyone and the conditions couldn't have been more perfect. The photo below shows some of the fun the group had on this day:

Day 3 - Peyto Hut to Bow Hut (2350m/7709ft): Waking up to frigid cold temperatures, winds, and snow wasn't what I had ordered in my forecast for this trip but we had to move, so off we went. We ascended the glacier with our lead guide Nick testing the snowpack depth with his probe every 100m or so. Visability was non-existent full blown whiteout and navigation was tricky. When our group was moving in a single file line, I looked up and shouted at Nick that I saw a glacier weather recording instrument sticking out of the white vista ahead. It was to be our only landmark for hours. Crossing the glacier over to the Bow Hut was somewhat familiar territory for Deb, Glenn and myself as we had been in the area ascending peaks during our Introduction to Mountaineering Course that we took with Yam during the summer of 2012. Nick, our past and current guide who knows the area like the back of his hand, led the way. The traverse was slow and covering up every inch of exposed skin was crucial. I had one slim spot on my cheek exposed and ended up with frostbite later on. After another hour or so of slogging through Wapta whiteout conditions we found the 'lighthouse', otherwise known as Saint Nicholas Peak. Knowing where we were and that the rest of the distance to the hut was downhill, we transitioned into ski mode and skiied down to the Bow Hut for lunch. In the afternoon, we decided to head back out to the glacier headwall and do some laps with lighter packs. As a snowboarder turned skiier recently, this enabled me to practice my powder turns.

Day 4 - Stalled at Bow Hut : This morning we woke to find out that evening before, a 911 SPOT emergency beacon had been activated on the traverse ahead of us close to the Scott Duncan Hut. Not having much information on what happened, we could only hope they got the help they needed. Knowing that we had been in a whiteout the day before, we wouldn't have been surprised that a group may have gotten into trouble. When we woke up on this day, snow had fallen heavily all night and shot up the avalanche hazard up to HIGH.  We figured we had 3 options: Traverse over to the Balfour Hut, ski out from the Bow Hut and find other local day trip areas to ski tour, or to stay put. After a satellite phone call between our guide Nick and the Yam office back in Canmore, we were advised to stay put as the roads were closed due to the snowfall amount and the avalanche forecast was not good. The group went out in the morning and found some untracked powder past the Onion Skin rock feature by the headwall, and then in the afternoon found some more powder on the headwall itself. Visibility was again awful due to the continuous snowfall, and there was one run I couldn't tell the difference between the ground and the air and couldn't feel the slope angle because the snow was so deep! Being disoriented as a skiier in the alpine left me feeling uneasy. Glenn said at one point he couldn't tell if he was moving or not because of the whiteout, and toppled over gliding on the flats! When we got back to the hut, we realized we weren't the only group that was stalled, as the hut was nearing full capacity.

Day 5: Stalled at Bow Hut (again!): We woke again to find that we had slept through another night of wind and snowfall and avalanche conditions were again getting worse. It was now rated HIGH below the treeline, HIGH at the treeline and HIGH above the treeline. We weren't sure how much snow we actually received but it was closing in on 100cm. So again our guide Nick got on the satellite phone to call the office and again we were advised to stay put. We took the morning off to read, play cards, and essentially be hut-bound. In the afternoon, we skinned up the headwall, practiced some crevasse rescue rigging, and skiied down and practiced some beacon rescue drills before dinner. Tension was high at the hut as everyone's plans were uncertain. We weren't sure if we were leaving tomorrow or not. Today, no new parties arrived and no groups left the hut. Conditions were just too dangerous.

Day 6 - Bow Hut to Bow Lake Parking : After breakfast and yet again another satellite phone call to the office, the decision was made to ski out as the weather was starting to improve. Avalanches were still a concern so Nick was very strict with his instructions on our way down. The first challenge was to descend into a deep alpine bowl where there had already been evidence of minor avalanches. Nick's instructions were to ski down his line. I was the 5th skiier down and had to snowplow through thigh high soupy snow to get to the bottom. Deb, the 6th skiier, fell going down this pitch and feared she would trigger an avalanche. We quickly got out of bowl area and into the trees and into a canyon. I led the group through the canyon area, skiing over heaps of avalanche debris. Heading down our final descent to Bow Lake, we breathed a sigh of relief that the risky business was over and we could finish the trip safely. We got to the parking lot to find the van buried in the snow. After an hour of digging it out, the entire group had to push it out 200m to the road! And of course, as we dug and pushed, it was snowing!

Post Trip: Once out of the alpine and back connected to the internet, we found out that over 100cm of snow fell in 2.5 days! The avalanche conditions were so high for so long that rescuers could not get into where the SPOT beacon had been activated. We read that 2 people (a woman in her 30's and a man in his 60's) had been rescued and that 1 man in his 50's from Abbotsford, BC had perished in a crevasse and his body was not recovered until two days after we were off the traverse.  Upon hearing the sad news, we reflected on our trip and even though it didn't turn out as we had hoped, it was still a great adventure full of meeting new people, skiing new terrain, learning new skills, and we were out safe and sound. The Wapta will always be there...and I'll be back.