Robertson Glacier

We were at Lake Louise on Good Friday, along with several thousand others. Conditions were OK on the backside, and busy at the lifts. Almost got taken out by out-of-control boarders/skiers losing it on the way up the headwall on the Summit poma. So we decided to avoid that chaos again, and get on our alpine touring gear. The weather looked favorable, so we opted for Robertson Glacier in KCountry. It has relatively benign terrain if you spread out and keep to the middle of the valley - or thereabouts. Avalanche conditions were considerable in the alpine. We were definitely going into the alpine.

The tour starts from the Smith Dorrien highway, some 45 minutes south of Canmore at a high point on the road (1905m). A couple of skiers and snowshoers headed into the Burstall Pass area. We broke a trail continuing up the main valley - ultimately reaching the glacier itself. Conditions exceeded our expectations! It's a cold, north-facing valley that gets much steeper on the glacier. The snow was feeling great! We had a time commitment, and had a turn-around at 2 PM planned. By that time, we were in sight of the col, at about 2750m and at least 9 km from the car.

The turns were great! We ripped out of the area in about 2 hours and a lot of turns as the pictures will attest to below. Not an easy tour, but this area can have it's moments!