| |
Date |
Start |
Stop |
Time |
| 1st Time |
02 Mar 01 |
Num Ti Jah |
Bow Hut |
3:00 |
| |
|
Bow Hut |
Balfour Hut |
4:15 |
| |
03 Mar 01 |
Balfour Hut |
Scott Duncan |
5:30 |
| |
04 Mar 01 |
Scott Duncan |
Wapta Lake |
3:45 |
I forgot my camera, so all of these pictures are Rob's.
The traverse that we did started at Bow Lake. We started under mostly sunny skies, but things would
later become overcast.
|
After we crossed the lake, we headed into the canyon making our way toward Bow Hut.
|
After three hours, we arrived at Bow Hut. The Calgary Mountaineering Club was having
their annual bash there that weekend. The place had enough alcohol to supply an army. They
even had two kegs of beer!!! I was impressed. After an hour stop, we left the Bow Hut, and
started our traverse to the Scott Duncan Hut.
|
A couple of hours after we left the Bow Hut, we arrived at the Olive/St. Nick col. The rest of the
day would be downhill. It was very windy and overcast getting up to the col, but once we got over it,
magically, the wind stopped and the clouds went away. It would stay that way for the rest of the
weekend. Here we see Dave (not me) taking off his skins, getting a bite to eat, and preparing for our
awesome trip down to the Scott Duncan Hut.
|
DAY 2
Our second day was an easy day. So, we slept in (perhaps too long). We had no intentions of summitting
Mt. Balfour, so we had a short day ahead of us. Here are three of us (Rob, Doreen and myself) ready to
head up the Balfour High Col. Mt. Balfour is in the background. Click
here to see a bigger version.
|
Here we are heading out across the valley toward Mt. Balfour. The route is shown in red. We saw an
alternate way to gain the "bench", which was off to the right (off the photo); however, that way appeared
to be way out of the way. We went for a more direct approach.
Click here to see a bigger version.
|
This is us heading up the final slopes to the high col. I'm the second guy in this picture. If
you look closely ahead, you will see that we had a large cravasse ahead of us. As it turned out,
it was a monsterous one. The only way around it was either a snow bridge (about 10 feet long by
3 feet thick), or swing around the right and expose ourselves to serious serac fall and avalanche
risk. We took our chances with the snow bridge. Click
here to see a bigger version.
|
Here we see me (in the back) about to cross the cravasse. As you can see, Dave Crewe had already crossed.
In the very background, you can see Mt. Olive and Vultures Col. To the right of Mt. Olive is our descent
route from the Olive col to the Balfour Hut.
|
After our short 5½ hour day, we arrived at the Scott Duncan Hut.
|
DAY 3
The next day, we would be going through our most hazardous avalanche terrain, so we wanted to get an
early start. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise as the sunlight reflected across the mountains and
began to warm the valley. Here we see the Vice President with Little Yoho Valley to the right.
|
Looking a bit more to the southwest, we see Mt. Niles in the sunlight. Our route would cut just on the east
(sunny) side of Mt. Niles.
|
Here we are getting ready for our final descent. In the picture is Dave, me, and Doreen. The skiing
ahead of us was awesome.
|
|
