In March, I (Dave) embarked on a 4 day back country expedition called the Wapta Traverse up into the Rockies and onto the Glaciers with 3 others (Ryan, Tracy and Michele). A trek that many have done before and also many have attempted and not been able to complete.
There were a number of firsts for me on the trip in that I was on skis for the first time in about 10 years, the first time on touring skis and then add a big heavy backpack and just wait for something good to happen. Each day consisted of slogging along for 4-8 hours, with a lot of uphill climbing (until the last day which was mostly downhill) and following our GPS coordinates to find our accommodations for the night. The back country huts have beds, propane stoves and dishes so it was nice not to have to carry all of that along. Each hut is perched along the mountains with perfect panorama views of the area surrounding. 3 of the 4 were blue bird days and the scenery was spectacular. The non-sunny day (whiteout conditions) was extremely sketchy as we made our way along some areas of the glacier that were host to large crevasses. We spent that day tied together in case someone fell in and followed the GPS very closely. Just before dusk the GPS led us to a large cliff and it turned out that the hut was on top of the cliff....so after about 8 hours of trekking we strapped the skis to our packs and climbed to shelter. Now that's a day where you finish really feeling alive! (mostly due to the number of near misses throughout the day)
It was a great experience and the people I went with were gladly very experienced back country skiers and excellent company. Maybe we will go again next year?
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