We encountered quite good road conditions on our drives to/from Valemount, BC, via Icefields parkway, with only a few local compact snow/ icy patches.

We had mainly clear, sunny weather for the entire trip, with no new snow. Overnight lows ranged from -26C to -16C, and daytime highs ranged from -16C to -3C. Most aspects had 15-20cm of light snow on top of two stacked ice/melt/rain crust layers, 2cm and 2-4cm thick, respectively, separated by 2-4cm of light snow. There was little wind effect in the area that we skied, and we were pleasantly surprised to enjoy quite good skiing, in spite of the buried crust and thin total snowpack, typically only about 85cm! The snowpack seemed to be reasonably stable based on 3 pits that we dug and observations while skiing – we observed a few point releases from daytime heating on very steep S-facing rocky slopes, did not trigger any releases ourselves on 20-to-30-degree slopes, but did observe a few very minor surface sloughs near sharp turns on previous group’s board tracks on 35-degree slopes. We managed to avoid breaking though the top ice crust and generally avoided areas of thinner snowpack with buried rocks and branches (“sharks”).

We flew in from Valemount on Feb 14, each performed beacon search / probing practice to find 3 buried beacons, and then did a couple of runs on WNW aspect slopes called The Glades. On Feb 15, we all enjoyed multiple NNW aspect runs in Miner’s Basin, and spotted quite fresh wolverine as well as other small mammal (weasel?) tracks. On Feb 16 we all did multiple E / SE aspect runs on the west side of Park Bowl, adding to many tracks left by the previous group. On Feb 17, 3 of us toured to the top of North Ridge for views of Mt. Robson and a white Ptarmigan, and we also did more Park Bowl runs. We flew out early the following morning.

Dave Henry Lodge is a 1980’s classic, rustic yet comfortable log cabin in a beautiful, peaceful setting immediately adjacent to Mt. Robson Provincial Park. We ate well, slept lots, and enjoyed good company. Unfortunately, on the early morning of the last full day, a trip member slipped on the snow path to the outhouse and fractured their collarbone – the snow path had gradually become harder and a bit slippery in places over successive sunny days.

Ramblers ready to go at Dave Henry Lodge

Ascending for another run Miner's Basin

Probable Wolverine tracks Miner's Basin; Sun / Park Bowls beyond Dave Henry

Patrick Kristina at Dave Henry Lodge; Josephine bowl in distance

Ramblers ascending into Park Bowl Dave Henry

Ramblers viewing tracks in Park Bowl, Dave Henry

Richard pointing to Mt Robson, on North Ridge above Park Bowl

Bob Margot on North Ridge above Park Bowl, Mt Robson to R

Returning to Dave Henry Lodge; Glades, S Ridge beyond

Participants: Christine (Coord), Richard, Kristina, Patrick, Margot, Bob (Coord+S).