About The Bow to Yoho Ski Traverse
Chic Scott, in Summits and Icefields, called the Bow to Yoho the quintessential Canadian Rockies ski touring experience, and it's easy to see why. This five to six-day expedition crosses both the Wapta and Waputik Icefields along the spine of the Continental Divide, linking three historic Alpine Club of Canada huts and delivering some of the biggest glacier travel and alpine terrain the Rockies have to offer.
The trip starts at Bow Lake on the Icefields Parkway, with a ski across the frozen lake and up through canyon terrain to Bow Hut, tucked beneath the Wapta Icefield. From there, the route pushes deeper into the range, skirting under peaks like Mt. Rhondda and Mt. Collie en route to the Louise & Richard Guy Hut, perched near the Des Poilus Glacier. The crux of the traverse comes on the push toward Stanley Mitchell Hut, climbing over Isolated Col — the high point of the trip — before a big descent into the Little Yoho Valley. Two nights at the historic 1940s Stanley Mitchell Hut leave time to bag nearby objectives like the President, Vice President, Mt. McArthur, or Yoho Peak, before exiting down the Yoho Valley or over the Iceline Trail to Emerald Lake.
This is a bigger, more serious undertaking than the Wapta Traverse : longer days, more glacier travel, and terrain that rewards solid touring legs and prior backcountry experience. It is not recommended as a first ski touring or ski mountaineering trip.
This year, Kootenay Backcountry Guides will run a Bow to Yoho trip for April 2027.
