Back number Vol. 119 Wapta Traverse English Version

This story was written by Bob Kikuchi
                                                                                      Translated by Yumiko Mori



I am going to talk about my recent adventure of Wapta Traverse that I have wanted to try for a long time.
 "Wapta Traverse is called as a all route in the Rockies which connects the ACC huts in the region and become the total of 50km length. Eighty percent of the route is covered by the glacier so it's known for its impressive view. Also since the route took us from one hut to the other we could reduce the amount of gears that we have to carry."
                                                                                       Quated by our member Akiyama's Blog

Route map

Day 1：Peyto Lake - Peyto Hut
Distance:13km Time:6h45min
Ascent:864m↑ Descent:286m↓

　

Walking on the frozen lake

We left the parking lot a little before noon and headed for the first hut, Peyto Hut.
From the parking lot, descending a little down toward Payto Lake.On the way, there were a few sections that we had to take off ski to cross the stream or pass through the surface that needed crampons, we managed to make it to the hut. The extremely strong wind was blowing from all directions and there were high chance of losing gloves so if you are heading there, I really reccomend to bring an extra pair of gloves

My partner's smile just before the wind took her gloves away

(We managed to retrieve them though...)

Right before getting to the glacier part, it became whiteout. The only thing we can rely on here was GPS but we got to the hut safely. In a retrospect, I would say under that condition the section could be the crux of this trip...



Day2：P2eyto Hut - Balfour Hut
Distance:13km Time:6h55min
Ascent:545m↑ Descent:641m↓

We woke up expecting the nicer weather on that day. However, the condition was same as the day before( Complete whiteout...) Yet we checked out the hut at 9 and dragged ourselves to the another day of adventure. The destination for that day was Balfour Hut.


There was a big crowd and guides and we followed their trail but they were heading to Bow Hut so we diverged onto another direction. I have never experienced crossing the glacier under the absolute whiteout condition so even I was carefully making my way while ensuring that I didn't change any altitude and moving straight but ended up I was far right side than I expected to be. After a little discussion, we agreed on that I would be in charge of route finding and the other two woud be checking the location with GPS and communicating with me to save time and become more efficient.

In the end we walked little more than we were supposed to our strategy turned out to be a successful plan. Until the St. Nicholas Pass, it was a complete whiteout but somehow ( I assume since it became east side of the divide) the visibility became much better. So we took off the skin and did very challenging ski along the powdery surface of the glacier. After breaking trail we got to the Balfour Hut.

Since there were nobody in the hut we started to celebrate for the day with some goodies. Yet due to the limitation of supply we had to call it for a day after an hour...well at least we had a good time.


Day3：Another day at Balfour Hut

As the forecast said that day were welcomed by the perfect whiteout. Due to our experience of this route and the terrain that we were suppose to go through for the day( Today's route include glacier that has crevasses) we decided to stay at the hut for another day. We spent the day practicing the crevasse rescue and playing cards.

IOTA

Day4：Balfour Hut - Hwy1
Distance:22.2km Time:9h20min
Ascent:691m↑ Descent:1471m↓

This day was said t be the only day to become sunny of the week. And it was the day we were waiting for.

Waking up at 4:30 am and looked at the outside through the window... Cant' see anything. Slowly getting ready and checked out at 6.... not yet... At aroud 6:30 we noticed the chance of getting a better weather and visibility so we checked out and headed to the crux for the day. At aroud 7am the sun started to rise and at the same time the cloud started to dissapear.

Getting excited for the visibility after going through the multiple days of whiteout

My glacier experiences were only at Bugaboo in 2015 and Waddington in 2016.
And from my painful experience at Waddington I was little nervous for this trip. But overall it was great route and tottally undersatnd its popularity.

Crux crevasse section 

Nevertheless, there was an accident two years ago at this route and the condition was far from perfect we were very carefull during the trip.

Turning on the speaker after passing the crux 

Dancing 1

Dancing 2

We've only got to go back

Mt.Nile 2970m  Grandeur presence 

From here the only thing to do is skiing down. Easy to say...well it was almost flat surface and couldn't gain much speed. It was kind of exhausting part. After getting to the trees and walking through the lake ( started to melt)  we arrived at the Great Devide Lodge.

Can't turn!!!

Overall this trip was very successful and fun trip. Although the condition wasn' an ideal, we had an amazing team work and encouragement from each other's company


From next week I will be heading for an another adventure Northan Cariboo Ski Traverse for 10 days.

Thank you for reading!