First thing before I get into this (very delayed) post – I have made a few minor updates to my blog in terms of its overall message, and shifting towards it being focused on my main project of climbing all twelve Canadian province/territory high points (this post is tangentially related to that project). Let me know what you think!
My first big ski trip of the year was back to the beautiful Canadian Rockies with plans to do a classic ski tour – the Wapta Traverse with Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. After my backcountry skiing course with Yamnuska the previous March, I set a goal of climbing Mount Columbia (the highest point in Alberta) in 2025, and it was suggested that I do the Wapta in preparation for that, as well as get a lot of touring in that season.
Going into the trip, I had toured 15 days that season, not including “touring” done at my local Toronto park (which I did 3 times). A lot of it was touring at the resort and “slackcountry” (Limberlost might fall into this category) but I did quite a few days in true backcountry so I felt with that plus the Wapta I’d be in pretty good shape for Columbia (which I had lined up for about five weeks after the Wapta).
The Wapta Traverse is a classic hut to hut traverse in the Canadian Rockies, going from Bow Lake to Kicking Horse Pass. Each day would involve 6-10 kilometers of skiing with about 600 meters of ascent per day, staying in a different hut each night (Bow Hut – which I had stayed in during my Intro to Mountaineering course, Balfour Hut, and Scott Duncan Hut). Based on the training I had done prior to the trip, I felt like I was well equipped to handle this kind of mileage and elevation gain. The main difference is that I would be carrying an overnight pack across the traverse along with food – I typically ski with a pack as I like to carry extra layers, but not as much weight as an overnight pack would be.
I was also really excited about a private guide session the day before the traverse started (so I guess that would make 16 days of touring before the Wapta?). I booked a Canadian mountaineering legend, Barry Blanchard for this session – he was my AST1 guide last year and I really enjoyed spending time with and learning from him. In addition, Barry was awarded the Order of Canada earlier in 2025 for all of his mountaineering, climbing, and guiding achievements. It truly would be an honour to ski with Barry again.
Entering my trip, I almost got there injury-free, but unfortunately pulled my left calf a couple days before leaving. I tried out running the week before, and decided to start slowly with run-walk sessions with the runs at Zone 2. So extremely easy running. Well, I ended up with some calf tightness one morning after running to a sauna/cold plunge session, likely because I was a bit dehydrated. I absolutely pounded mobility, stretching, and exercises for my calf (also taped it myself) and did see some improvement. I had pulled that same calf ski touring pretty aggressively (long, sharp strides) earlier in the year so I wanted to take it super conservatively.
Day 1 – Travel to Alberta
In a departure from my typical preparation for more recent trips, I was actually 95% packed two days in advance, only adding a couple final small items as well as redoing the arrangement of stuff in my ski bag the day beforehand. This was my first time travelling with ski gear, so I had purchased a ski bag from Amazon before I suspended my Prime account (saving as much money as I can while funemployed) which also came with a boot bag. My plan was to wrap my skis in a ton of my clothing to cushion them as the bag is not a hard case, and bring my boot bag as a carry on item (losing boots is far more of an issue than losing skis). I also checked my overnight pack as a second checked bag which was only half full as a result. I might have been able to lodge my pack and its contents in my ski bag and done one checked bag only?
My flight was at 9:15am, and in typical Andre fashion I got up extra early to be safe. I wanted to be at Pearson 2 hours early, and wanted to give myself an hour to travel to the airport. I thus set an alarm at 5:15am to give myself an hour to eat, hydrate, and make sure I had eveything. I was out the door on time, but the streetcar (which would take me to the subway) naturally was running a bit late. I usually ride a Bike Share up to the subway, but that was not happening with a ski bag. The subway took me part of the way and I took the express train (UP Express) to the airport, which was also delayed by over 10 minutes.
Really crazy story about my UP Express tickets – the last time I took the UP Express, it was back in May when I went to California to climb Mount Whitney. I recalled i took Uber home from the airport as it was a late arrival, so I thought I might have only used one way of the return ticket I bought. Upon calling UP Express the night before my departure to confirm, the agent told me that the whole ticket was still valid! What happened is no one checked/validated my ticket when I took it in May 2024, so I effectively rode for free on my way to YYZ. Well, the same thing happened again for the Wapta trip – no one checked it. Looks like I’ll be using this ticket again next time I fly (assuming that’s before the ticket expires)!
Checking in at the airport was a breeze and I finished up an invoice for some consulting work I had done the previous week before boarding – OK I lied, I’m not truly “funemployed” but it is contract work, so I still consider myself between jobs. The flight was pretty smooth and I was able to get up and stretch/exercise my calf periodically. I also finished 11/22/1963 by Stephen King on the plane – that audiobook took forever but was a fantastic listen. As the Wapta traverse was a hut to hut trip, it made no sense to rent a car for the week, so I had booked the Banff Airporter, a shuttle bus, to get to Canmore. I had booked for the 13:30 bus, but was able to hop on the 12:30 one as my bags were claimed pretty quickly.
Upon arriving in Canmore, it was only a short walk to my accommodations for the first couple of nights at the Canmore Downtown Hostel. I booked a provate room but they upgraded me to the family sized room, which just had extra beds. Not terribly useful other than using one of the beds to unpack all my gear. I went for a walk around town to check out some gear shops (I wanted to start to put together a touring repair kit) as well as buy food for the trip. I had purchased a meal plan for the Wapta which was about $180 when I booked the trip last year, but decided to cancel that and buy my own food, which was less than half the price. I ended up at Ski Uphill and bought some straps and a front skin repair piece, still need to swing by Canadian Tire to pick up a few more (less specialized) pieces. Finally, I went to pick up my rental car for the day with Barry. This unfortunately was a required expense as Yamnuska guides do not have guests covered under their vehicle insurance. A bit annoying, and definitely another reason to move out west so I can use my own vehicle for situations like this!
After relaxing, making dinner and preparing lunch for the next day, it was off to bed.
Day 2 – Skiing with a Legend
I met with Barry at 7am at the Yamnuska office and we reviewed the avalanche forecast. He decided given the high avalanche danger that we would ski at Bow Summit, a place I was very familiar with given all but one of my ski days the previous year were there. As we made our way up, it was clear that not many people had skied at Bow Summit recently, and Barry had to break trail through pretty thick powder. There was one particular stretch as we crossed the ravine where it got a bit spicy.
We skied a couple runs and the conditions were quite good – even though I had done some powder skiing out east, the powder at Bow Summit was on a whole new level. We ended up skiing out via the hiking trail and down the road from the upper parking lot – the snow was pretty sticky so we ended up putting on skins to get back to the car. Upon returning to the Yamnuska office, I was able to dry out my boot liners and also leave my skis and poles, saving me some trouble carrying them the next day.
In the evening, after I returned the car, I received word from Yamnuska that due to the large amount of fresh snowfall, avalanche activity was high in the Bow Lake area (several parties on their way to the Bow Hut had to turn around in recent days) and thus the start of our traverse would, at best, be delayed by a day. This also meant that we were on the hook for accommodations and meals for at least the first day of the traverse. In addition, further snowfall was to take place the following day, which would, in addition to the previous snowfall, likely scuttle the traverse altogether. While understandable it definitely was a huge bummer.
Day 3 – Back to Bow Summit
The group met with our guide, James, at the Yamnuska office at 7am, and he gave us the lowdown on the avalanche forecast as well as some minor housekeeping details. We were a group of 7, and a pretty diverse group. We had myself from Toronto, Dean from Calgary, Abel and Joel from Québec, Marie originally from Austria but living in Montréal, Jo from the UK, and James from Australia. A ton of the following pictures in this post came from these folks, so thank you for sharing your photos!
As the avalanche forecast was showing considerable risk, James (guide) decided that we would ski the day at a very familiar location to me – Bow Summit, again! It snowed considerably while we were skiing and there was already a lot of snow on the Icefields Parkway driving up. I carpooled with Marie and she was not confident that the car would do well in the snow, but we made it to the parking lot without many issues. We did have to wait for Abel, Joel and Jo to arrive – they missed the turnoff for the Parkway at Lake Louise and since there’s no reception at the parking lot, we couldn’t contact them. When everyone arrived, we did some brief avalanche skills practice in the parking lot before setting off.
We got a few runs in during the day. Some highlights included James demonstrating how deep tree wells are (quite deep) and a run where two people (Abel and Marie) separately fell into tree wells only a few meters apart. They were able to get out with no issues. A great reason to always ski in the backcountry with a buddy (or seven!). I was inspired by James who was able to take his skins off without stepping out of his bindings (a skill which is quite useful when transitioning in deep powder!). While being nowhere near as flexible as him, I was able to pull it off, though I had to lock down my heel and it required a lot of effort especially when my skins were still quite sticky!
Some really good runs as well, including one very long and steep slope that had waist deep powder and was probably the most challenging powder skiing I had done so far. Super fun! We ended up having to bushwhack a bit to get to the bottom, and due to deteriorating conditions (heavy snow), James led us back to the Icefields Parkway and we skinned along the road for about 1.5 kilometres.
Getting out of the parking lot once we packed up was a bit challenging. Most of the vehicles were able to negotiate the roughly 20 centimetres of fresh snow, save Marie’s car. Joel ended up driving her car back to Canmore, and I took Joel’s place with Abel and Jo. That night, most of us (save the Jameses) went out for dinner in Canmore, was great hanging out with the group.
That evening marked my second room at the hostel. I had been upgraded previously, and opted to switch to a cheaper room.
Day 4 – Another Powder Day
The avalanche risk was still very high entering the second full day, and when we met James at 7am he announced that the Wapta Traverse would not be happening. There was still a slim chance we’d be able to skin up to the Scott Duncan hut (effectively starting at our end point), but this would be a long climb up. The reason this section is typically the end point is that it is the longest descent, providing the most opportunity for downhill skiing. And now you know why I gave this post its title!
We headed back out to the Icefields Parkway for another day of skiing. This time, we parked at the Helen Lake trailhead and took the hiking trail up towards its namesake, Helen Lake.
Very pleasant hike through the forest, and we also passed through a number of sections which were avalanche paths, where we spread out. We didn’t quite make it to Helen Lake, but we were able to get a few super fun runs in, including a classic final run which involved a bit of bushwhacking back to the Parkway.
Dean asked James at one point what his craziest story was as a guide, and asked for the “Coles Notes” version. James, naturally, gave the full length story which was definitely worth listening to. He witnessed a climber on a ascend a glaciated peak without proper traction (crampons), ice axe, or footwear (he was wearing approach shoes). The guy was able to make the summit but took a fall on the way down. James and his clients witnessed this guy slide at breakneck speed towards a crevasse. Just before reaching the crevasse, the guy suddenly dropped his poles, planted his palms, and hucked the crevasse, clearing it. We thought this was the end of the story, but the guy slid towards another crevasse and fell into it. James thought he had witnessed a death, and traversed over to investigate, where he found that the guy was alive, not injured, but soaking wet and stuck on a ledge a ways into the crevasse. James called for help and got the guy secured, and he was later rescued by helicopter.
That evening I switched rooms once again – this time to a dorm style room which was substantially cheaper. For whatever reason the cost of private rooms doubled on Friday and Saturday while the dorm prices were unchanged. I’m not a huge fan of dorm rooms due to reduced space as well as noise during the night from other people, but I figured this was a sacrifice I was willing to make given all the added expenses.
Day 5 – Sunshine Backcountry
Our next day was spent at Sunshine Village in Banff. Unlike a lot of ski resorts out east, one can park and skin up the resort for free, which we did in order to access the backcountry west of the inbounds terrain. It took a couple of hours to make our way up, and it was pretty tiring. Not to mention it was a beautiful sunny day so it got decently warm. Once we got to the backcountry area, we stopped for lunch before setting off.
In the backcountry, we heard lots of “whumphs” which indicate fracture in the snowpack. In terrain with angles greater than 30 degrees, these could create avalanches, but we were on pretty flat terrain so nothing slid, and we did see some cracks in the snow. It should be noted that avalanches can be triggered remotely from below, so if there was avalanche terrain above us, the fracture could propagate and cause a slide.
We did a bunch of runs in the backcountry area and got a ton of great turns in. This was definitely a great day out. We descended the main run back to the cars which was probably the most dangerous part of the day with all the skiers and boarders everywhere. Coming down a pretty tracked out gladed section just after exiting the backcountry, I took a fall and my pin binding thankfully released – this was the first time it released on a fall and I suspect it was because the snow was pretty packed down. While getting up, myself and a couple others were berated by a couple of skiers for stopping in the middle of the trail. Umm, I just fell down, buddy!
That evening I switched to my fourth (and final) room at the hostel, a standard private room, similar to the one I had for my third night. The reason I switched was so that I could split the room with Jo, who was unable to extend her AirBNB in Canmore. Jo is a beast – she’s an avid mountain runner back home in the UK and went for a run after we got to the hostel (the last thing I would have done!). It is quite interesting how on both of my ski trips to Alberta thus far, I skied with Brits who do ultras or mountain running. We walked over to Joel and Abel’s new hotel (Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge, which I had stayed at my previous ski trip in 2024) where they prepared an excellent risotto dinner for us with wine and Deep ‘N’ Delicious cake for dessert (obviously the cake was store bought). Thanks gents!
Day 6 – Crowfoot Glades
Our final day of skiing was back up the Icefields Parkway, this time to the Crowfoot Glades, which I had skied once before on my Intro to Backcountry Skiing course. It was a bit of an overcast day to start with, with the sun trying to poke through the clouds.
We got lots of great runs in – the final run back to the bottom (Peyto Lake) was super fun – very steep with great snow quality. On a run earlier in the day, I went over a roller that I misjudged and my ski tips drove straight down at the bottom, causing me to faceplant in the powder. I didn’t have goggles on (just sunnies) so it was quite cold but still pretty hilarious.
I’d also like to point out that the best photos of the trip were taken on the final day – Abel in particular got some great shots of us on the return trip crossing Peyto Lake.
At the end of the day, a few of us dropped by the Yamnuska office to pick up our dehydrated meals that the Yamnuska chef split up for us. I can’t wait to try them, likely on a future backcountry trip. it was a pretty lowkey evening for me at the hostel as I tried to eat as much of my food as possible while saving some for the trip home.
Day 7
My shuttle was scheduled for just after lunch, so it was a slow morning packing and getting ready to head home. Getting my ski bag packed was much better with all the ski straps I had bought at least! I took a walk across Canmore to the west side and back just for a bit of active recovery – I was pretty sore by this point and wanted to loosen up, especially given I would be in a bus, plane, and train back home. Back at the hostel, while scarfing down the last of my food (I saved a bunch of peanut butter tortillas for the flight home), I met a gentleman from Michigan who was in town to do Yam’s Intro to Ski Mountaineering course, which is based out o the Bow Hut, which would have been our first destination on the Wapta. he mentioned that the first day was cancelled due to avalanche risk, and he was in the same boat hat I was in, trying to arrange extra accommodations. We spoke for a few minutes and I wished him luck – it turned out I heard later that his course was also cancelled unfortunately.
Travel home was pretty smooth – after struggling with carrying my ski bag, I decided to bite the bullet and use a cart when I was at the airport in Calgary, and did the same in Toronto on the way to the UP Express platform. I also discovered that hoisting my ski bag onto my shoulders like a barbell worked pretty good when a cart wasn’t available, but I was still moving pretty slowly with all my gear due to the fatigue.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this trip was a bit disappointing. I will admit that I had it pretty good on all my previous trips with respect to weather and terrain conditions, and completely understand why the Wapta couldn’t happen. It was unfortunate that we had to incur so many additional expenses as a result of the Wapta cancellation, namely extra accommodations (many had to be booked last minute) as well as additional meal costs. I had to change rooms three times within the same hotel which was honestly pretty comical! Nevertheless, the powder skiing was fantastic, and many thanks to James for trying to give us the best experience possible given everything going on. James is a fantastic guide (he always made sure to remind us to remember to bring the stoke at the start of each day) and I would definitely consider booking him again.
Unfortunately, a couple weeks before I published this post, my Mount Columbia trip with Yamnuska (scheduled for the end of April) was cancelled due to low enrolment. That trip needed at least 3 people to run, and I pulled out all the stops trying to recruit the 1 person needed for several weeks leading up to the trip. Despite coming close to getting close to finding someone, I had to pull the plug on attempting my seventh Canadian provincial highpoint the day before my scheduled departure. After my Wapta experience, this further added to the disappointment of the end of my ski season and honestly my year in general. It really sucks to devote an entire year to preparing for these trips and then have them be cancelled for reasons beyond your control. In addition, the uncertainty at the US-Canada border discouraged me from making several planned trips to New York and Vermont to ski, and living in Toronto (very mild winters and, most importantly, no mountains), ski touring options are extremely limited otherwise.
My plan moving forward is to not register for any ski trips unless I know that the conditions will allow the itinerary to proceed, or there are sufficient registrations (or I register with several friends). Mount Columbia would have been possible if I had done it as a private option, but the other guest who registered didn’t want to spend extra, and being unemployed I wasn’t going to spend extra as well. The good news about Columbia is that I was able to get all my money back (some required an insurance claim), so that will be saved for the next big adventure..which will hopefully go better than the last couple – my bad luck has to turn around eventually, right?
Veg 'n' Alpine 