Backcountry skiing (Alpine touring ) 3:15:00 [2] 10.0 km (19:30 / km) +700m 14:27 / km
Wapta traverse day 3 - Balfour hut to Scott Duncan Hut
Woke up to beautiful visibility. Enjoyed a nice skinless ski down from the hut that glided further than we thought (when we saw how far Lucas glided so we ripped our skins off and followed). Lucas charged ahead but left a nice “crampons” instruction in large letters on the snow where he figured we should don our ski crampons. Wapta with instructions :)
Took the lower route rather than the high bench and it worked very nicely. James led the first rope with Atsuko and Wakana. Lucas and I followed on the other rope. Sun was already starting to come out. After choosing the snow bridge to the right rather than the one closest to the rock cliff face (to get a better line more perpendicular to the cravasse) we were able to hide in the shadow of the rock wall and stay cool, knowing that today would get warm. Crossed the debris of a big serac fall. Had a snack stop (very early lunch break) just before the col.
Kept discussing the option of exiting via Balfour Glacier and Hector Lake tomorrow and hitching a ride back to the cars. The big drawback would be the long slog across Hector Lake. Then we thought about grabbing a lap on Balfour Glacier today just for turns and come back up to the hut. We considered stashing some weight at the top of the glacier before a lap, or dropping gear at the hut and coming back. Decided to go to the hut to not be out at the hotter part of the day and then return in the late afternoon. Got to the hut just before 1:00.
Backcountry skiing (Alpine touring ) 1:30:00 [2] 6.0 km (15:00 / km) +300m 12:00 / km
After spending the afternoon at the hut to avoid the warmest part of the day and let some people rest their feet, we headed back out for a ski down Balfour Glacier. Lucas had been keen to check this out as a possible alternate exit but the slog across Hector Lake at the end was a real drawback. We decided we could have the best of all worlds by skiing the glacier and climbing back up to the hut, then ski out the classic exit tomorrow. When we got to the top of the glacier and looked down the incredibly steep (80 degrees?) wind lip, we saw that the angle soon became too mellow to be worth the descent and the climb back up. Instead we climbed the high point to the east, had decent turns back down to the saddle where we had looked over the wind lip, and then continued skiing down to the south until the angle eventually mellowed out too much, put skins back on and climbed back to the hut for supper. Glad we went out for one more run even though I was hoping the Balfour run would have been more appealing.