Ski Touring Photos from Midi Wapta

April 25, 2009

Usually skied hut to hut, we wanted to ski the wapta traverse in one day. So to shorten it we took an alternate exit via Hecter Lake. We call this the Wapta Midi Traverse. It took about 13 hours to finish. We started with cloudy weather that soon changed when we got to the Wapta. We had great weather for most of the day. One brief snow squall ambushed us on Mount Balfour. It passed and we got more great photos. The skiing was excellent with a good 15cm of powder snow on a hard crust. I managed not to fall as often on this trip. I must be getting better. Had a great time

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Skiing up a canyon to Bow Hut.

Sheri skiing up the canyon.

Crossing the creek.

Skiing out of the canyon.

Panorama to the South East from Bow Hut.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Panorama to the South East ...

Skiing up the Wapta towards St Nicholas Peak.
Photo courtesy of Sheri Foster

Skiing up the Wapta towards ...

St Nicholas Peak.

Skiing up the Wapta.

Looking back down to Bow Hut from the Wapta Icefield.

Looking back down to Bow Hut ...

Traversing along the Vulture Glacier.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Traversing along the Vulture ...

St Nicholas Peak from the Wapta. Our route traverses left underneath St Nicholas Peak and then up the Vulture Glacier.

St Nicholas Peak from the ...

St Nicholas Peak.

Skiing up beneath St Nicholas Peak.

Skiing up beneath St Nicholas ...

St Nicholas Peak from the Vulture Glacier.

St Nicholas Peak from the ...

Skiing up the Vulture Glacier.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Skiing up the Vulture ...

Looking East to Crowfoot Mountain.

Looking East to Crowfoot ...

Skiing up the Vulture Glacier. Mount Olive ahead of us.

Skiing up the Vulture ...

Mount Olive from the Vulture Glacier.

Mount Olive from the Vulture ...

Skiing to the crest of the Vulture Glacier.
Photo courtesy of Sheri Foster

Skiing to the crest of the ...

Mount Olive from the lower Vulture Glacier.

Mount Olive from the lower ...

Marion skiing down the Vulture glacier. Mount Balfour in the distance.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Marion skiing down the ...

Looking down the Vulture Glacier to Mount Balfour.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Looking down the Vulture ...

Cuauh skiing down the Vulture Glacier. Mount Balfour on the right.

Cuauh skiing down the Vulture ...

Panoramic view from the Vulture Glacier. Cuauh on the right.

Panoramic view from the ...

Mount Olive from the Vulture Glacier.

Mount Olive from the Vulture ...

Part of Mount Gordon and Mount Olive with the Vulture Col between them from the Vulture Glacier.

Part of Mount Gordon and ...

Skiing down the Vulture glacier.

Skiing down the Vulture ...

Another great shot of Mount Balfour.

Another great shot of Mount ...

Mount Balfour from near the Balfour Hut.

Mount Balfour from near the ...

Balfour Hut.

Lilliput Mountain to the South.

Lilliput Mountain to the ...

Our group below Balfour Hut.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Our group below Balfour ...

Skiing up Mount Balfour to Balfour High Col.Photo courtesy of Sheri Foster

Skiing up Mount Balfour to ...

Looking back from near Balfour High Col. Mount Olive on the left and the Vulture Glacier to the right of Olive.

Looking back from near ...

Reinhold leading us up to Balfour High Col.

Reinhold leading us up to ...

Dan skiing up behind me. The Balfour Creek valley leading to Hector Lake is in the background. Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Dan skiing up behind me. The ...

A short stop with the Balfour Creek Valley behind us.

A short stop with the Balfour ...

Mount Balfour from near Balfour High Col.

Mount Balfour from near ...

A panorama from near Balfour High Col. Mount Olive is on the left. Then the Vulture Glacier. Balfour Creek Valley is right of center.

A panorama from near Balfour ...

Unnamed peaks near the Balfour Glacier.

Unnamed peaks near the ...

The rest of the team skiing up to Balfour High Col. Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

The rest of the team skiing ...

Reinhold leading us up to Balfour High Col. Mount Balfour is on the right.

Reinhold leading us up to ...

Crevasses on the Balfour Glacier. Mount Olive in the distance.

Crevasses on the Balfour ...

Skiing up near a cool rock feature on the Balfour Glacier.

Skiing up near a cool rock ...

Cool ice on the Balfour Glacier.

Cool ice on the Balfour ...

Skiing around an ice feature near Balfour High Col.

Skiing around an ice feature ...

The rest of the group skiing up to Balfour High Col.

The rest of the group skiing ...

Kevin skiing around an ice feature on the Balfour Glacier.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Kevin skiing around an ice ...

Skiing around an ice feature on the Balfour Glacier.

Skiing around an ice feature ...

Skiing around an ice feature on the Balfour Glacier.

Skiing around an ice feature ...

Big ice behind Kevin on the Balfour Glacier.

Big ice behind Kevin on the ...

The South ridge of Mount Balfour.

The South ridge of Mount ...

Our group on Balfour High Col. Unnamed peak behind us. From left to right is Dan, Eric, Kevin, Marion, Cuauh and Sheri. Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Our group on Balfour High ...

Unnamed peak from Balfour High Col.

Unnamed peak from Balfour ...

Skiing down from Balfour High Col.

Skiing down from Balfour High ...

Skiing down from Balfour High Col.

Skiing down from Balfour High ...

Sheri on the way down from Balfour High Col.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Sheri on the way down from ...

Cuauh on the way down from Balfour High Col.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Mayerhofer

Cuauh on the way down from ...

A moat on the Balfour Glacier near Lilliput Mountain.

A moat on the Balfour Glacier ...

The view North from the Hector Lake exit on the Wapta Traverse.

The view North from the ...

Unnamed Peaks to the North of Lilliput Mountain.

Unnamed Peaks to the North of ...

Skiing down the Balfour Glacier near Lilliput Mountain.
Photo courtesy of Sheri Foster

Skiing down the Balfour ...

Skiing down the Balfour Glacier. Lilliput Mountain on the left.

Skiing down the Balfour ...

Skiing down the Balfour Glacier. Lilliput Mountain on the left.

Skiing down the Balfour ...

Looking North West from the Balfour Glacier. Mount Olive is in the center of the photo in the distance.

Looking North West from the ...

Icefall on the Balfour Glacier.

Icefall on the Balfour ...

Icefall on the Balfour Glacier.

Icefall on the Balfour ...

The remaining valley below the Balfour Glacier.

The remaining valley below ...

Hiking around a waterfall down to the Balfour Creek Valley.

Hiking around a waterfall ...

A waterfall near the Balfour Creek Valley.

A waterfall near the Balfour ...

Kevin skiing down from the canyon. Our route down followed the snow ledge along the right side of the photo.

Kevin skiing down from the ...

A panorama of the canyon leading into the Balfour Creek Valley.

A panorama of the canyon ...

The Balfour Creek Valley.

Some of us skiing down from the canyon.

Some of us skiing down from ...

Looking back to Mount Balfour.

Skiing across Hector Lake. Mount Hector is on the left.

Skiing across Hector Lake. ...

A close up of Mount Hector.

Looking back across Hector Lake. Mount Olive can be seen on the left in the distance.

Looking back across Hector ...

A peak on the South West side of Hector Lake.

A peak on the South West side ...

Looking South across Hector Lake.

Looking South across Hector ...

Our group wrapping up at the highway.
Photo courtesy of Sheri Foster

Our group wrapping up at the ...

Please send me any comments, suggestions or mountain/flora identifications ecoulthard@gmail.com