We will meet at the Alpine Center in Lake Louise at 8:30am. We’ll then head to Bow Lake where our adventure begins. After an hour-long avalanche companion rescue exercise, we’ll spend 3-4 hours ascending to the Bow Hut. If we get there early enough, we’ll have some spare time to go skiing in the afternoon before retreating to the hut for the night.
To enjoy the Bow-Yoho traverse, you need to be in excellent physical shape. You will be on your feet for 5-7 hours a day for 5 or 6 full days, covering 6-10 miles (10-15km) of terrain every day. Hut elevations are approximately 7,200ft (2,200m), with 2,300ft (700m) vertical, and you will be doing your hut-to-hut traverse carrying up to 45lbs (20kg) of equipment. You will need to manage controlled descents in variable conditions. All participants should feel comfortable on challenging blue or black-level resort runs and be able to carry a loaded daypack while skinning up variable degrees of terrain.