Ah it’s summer, mostly… in Lake Louise at least it feels that way with all the tourists (and construction). Anna and I had the day off so we decided to get out for a quick, pain free ski at Bow Summit. We got there around 9am this morning and luckily there were almost no tourists and therefore easy to find parking.
We hiked up the summer trail to treeline where we then had to start finding our own way up between the rock and leftover snow but the task ended up being pretty easy. At the top we stopped where the ridge flattened out as the upper snow patch no longer connects to the lower. The steeper slope along the ridge skied great for what was left and we were able to ski all the way to one of the unofficial trails at treeline using thin ribbons. It skied much better than I had expected considering how warm it has been these last few days.
We got back to the parking lot around 11am where dozens of cars were circling for anyone about to leave their parking spot. Lots of confused looks from tourist due to our skis and big smiles on us, a win-win I’d say.
There are still plenty of spots you could ski along the 93n once above treeline but for the most part looking at ribbons or glaciers with access being the big problem. You can also now see glacier crevasse lines sagging so you’ll definitely want to pack a rope if heading to ski one. The Wapta looked pretty good and I did hear a promising report from a group up there this week. For best snow conditions you’ll probably want to be skiing first light and be off snow by 10am-ish in general.
