[MCR] Rundle Ice climbing

Climbed Christmas Present on Mt. Rundle in a stiff breeze today. Not a snowflake to move around within at least a kilometer and basically no water running even in the middle of the day.

 

The ice was pretty thin down low. Climbable and kinda fun, but rather serious with no decent gear. I had pins, clever wee cams and stubbies but was pretty much dreaming that the few pieces I got in would have held a real fall. Can't really reccommend it to smart people.

 

Everything else looked even more anorexic and the Trophy Wall needs a little more time to be pure ice climbing country. Ten Years After is probably fattest but also has some growing up to do.

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide 

[MCR] Burstall Pass area

Chomping at the bit to climb some ice, we hiked in to the Drip at the Centre of the Universe on Mount Birdwood on Friday.  The approach is mostly snow free until the last couple hundred metres below the first pitch.  We were disappointed to find that the nearly solid white line visible from the road was mostly unconsolidated snow stuck to very thin, immature ice.  We bailed after 1 pitch as the sun was quickly warming up the face above us and the icicles started falling off.

The route is probably climbable but expect slow going and challenging protection on spotty thin ice.  I took us quite a while to find a pin placement worthy of a rappel anchor and there was no ice to be had for an Abalakov.

Also, any keen skiers thinking of heading to the Robertson Glacier for some early season turns might want to look at the attached photo before strapping your skis to your pack.  It looks like you would be walking all the way to the ice then spotty patches of snow between open crevasses and exposed ice.

Happy hunting.



Marc Piché
Mountain Guide

[MCR] Alpine Conditions, Lake O'Hara area

Today we climbed near Lake O'Hara to 2750 m on steep, north facing, non-glaciated terrain - looking for ice/mixed climbing.  We did not find any ice in a deep alpine gully feature which we followed for 600 m, and in general the O'Hara area seemed dry for frozen climbing. 

We did find perfect alpine climbing conditions, the face was locked up tight - full moon to start, snowdepth averaged 60-80 cm with a good crust near the surface, making for near perfect cramponing on this frozen surface. Mostly there was 10 cm of unconsolidated snow on top of this frozen surface, and sometimes up to 40 cm but short lived.  No slab felt anywhere. Very occasional breaking through the entire HS into facets on rocks underneath. Certainly no rockfall, it was cold - we were all dressed up with cold toes and fingers. Perfect.  Moderate west winds moving snow above 3000 m.

If only we didn't get shutdown by a 5 meter step of steep,blank rock with no ice and no options.

This area is 1080 km SE of Kitwanga.

Grant Statham
Mountain Guide

[MCR] Cassiar Mountains

It is winter, but relatively warm in the Cassiar Mountains. At treeline
(1400 m) there is about 1 m of snow, but it is very variably distributed
due to strong winds this past week. Temperatures were around -4 at
treeline today. The usual depth hoar is so far absent, but numerous
avalanches to size 3 ran early this past week. Ski cutting easily
releases the top 10 to 15 cm which propagate well. Skiing quality is
variable because of drifting snow. Very little waterfall ice has formed
so far. The Cassiar Mountains are 600 km north of Kitwanga.

--

Christoph Dietzfelbinger
Mountain Guide UIAGM
Bear Enterprises Ltd.
Box 4222 Smithers, B.C. Canada V0J 2N0
Tel. 250-847-3351 fax 250-847-2854
info@bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies Conditions

Report from dog crew who spent the last two days on the Athabasca Glacier
at the Icefields.

Torrential rains Oct 24 to 9000' have melted much of the lower elevation
snow. 20-25 cm moist snow on the toe of the Athabasca now covered by thin
crust and dry snow. Warm temps prior to the rain produced glide cracking
full depth (20-30cm entire snowpack) on Parker slabs. Snowboarder slope at
Parker's Ridge ran size 1: 50cm X 50M 10cm thick HN on a crust, but this
slope has now been rain hammered. Dry snow and wind drifting noted at upper
elevations on Oct 25.

Observations on slopes around Lake Louise and Sunshine show significant
decrease in snow depths post rain but the bowls are still filled in and
smooth on lee northerly features with approx 20-30cm average HS.

Brad White
Mountain Safety Programs Specialist
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary issued Oct. 25th, 2007

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 25th, 2007.

 

If you stepped outside in the mountains earlier in the week you may have noticed it was WARM! Temperatures are dropping now and all that water and slush is starting to gain some strength. Marmot Basin ski area went from +10 C wednesday pm to -8 C thursday pm. Mt Mackenzie went from rain to -6 C overnight. The forecast indicates that cooling should continue throughout the region for the weekend at least.

 

For the Rockies ice climbers, this is pretty good news after a spell of bad news. Lots of routes disappeared in the monday-wednesday heat wave up to at least 2400m but the rock climbing was good in the canyons while it lasted. Don't expect much recovery of the mid-elevations routes in a hurry. The good news is for people dumb enough to go alpine ice climbing. I would certainly never recommend this activity but I am going ASAP! It is october so don't go anywhere without a fat rock rack including pins, and don't go with expectations of thick ice. Remember, these good conditions are counting on a forecast that may be wrong and we have had very few reliable snowfall observations. Run away screaming if it doesn't get well into the negative-temperatures as forecasted or if you start seeing or running into deep snow. (see next paragraph). Bowls above the routes and those big, fat spindrift loaded approaches and mid-route slopes are the main concerns.

 

Mountaineering conditions have probably improved a bit in the Rockies. Sadly, we have no reports from areas along the Continental divide from Lake Louise to the Columbia Icefields. Therefore it is a bit of a mystery as to how much snow fell there yesterday. I suggest having a good look before you start up anywhere and keeping your eyes open for surface windslabs up high. Again, this is counting on cold temperatures and you should just head home if it feels warm. The snowfall amounts may vary widely along the divide but there has certainly been lots of wind everywhere recently. Assume there has been some windloading and look for avalanche problems in lee terrain. Glacier travel is still an exercise in probing and levitating. Cornices grew this week and are probably straining to adapt to the new load and any temperature change. Don't trust them. Dry ranges scrambling is probably good with some verglas in places and snow just above that. 

 

A little more information was coming out of the Columbia Mountains recently. There are reports of recent avalanches to size 3 strating in the alpine in Glacier National Park. One of these big naturals released in the Crossover avalanche path (Herdman Couloir) just west of the big North Face of Mt. MacDonald. It ran to the top of the runout zone. This would put the deposit well into below treeline and not really that far above the road elevation. A rain crust approximately 30-50cms above the ground is the likely failure plane for these avalanches. At present, this crust is the layer avalanche forecasters are most concerned about for the coming winter. A snow profile taken yesterday on Mt.Fidelity (1905m just west of Rogers Pass) showed 73 cms of reasonably strong snow and a moist snow surface. Lots of wind and some precipitation in the interior in the past few days so the avalanche hazard is a very real concern.  Remember that the wood, rock and ice are also still only a few snowflakes down in places if you fall. 

 

Glacier National Park has just put out their first avalanche bulletin of the season. I strongly recommend that anyone thinking of skiing at the Rogers Pass this winter bookmark their site and track the conditions there all winter. That exercise will keep you psyched, keep you aware and may keep you alive.

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

 

[MCR] Kananaskis Observations (Robertson-Haig)

HI all early season keeners,

 

Headed up the Robertson Glacier in K-country yesterday (Oct 20^th) afternoon to check out some climbing off the Haig Glacier.

 

We put ski’s on just before the toe of the Robertson. The glacier was 90% covered by snow with variable surfaces from wind scoured neve and soft wind deposited snow up to 1m deep over a variety of crusts and wind hardened surfaces.

 

As seen in most glaciated areas, the snow seems to be quite strong and is providing good bridging over crevasses, but with such a varying depth in the snowpack it would be easy to misjudge and punch through into a crevasse. Fall and early winter is commonly the most dangerous and unpredictable time of year to travel on glaciers as the snow may be “strong” but it may only be a few centimeters thick over large holes! Unless you are very familiar with the glacier (when it’s free of snow) and have good visibility to see the crevasses, than a rope and the skill set to use it is highly advisable.

 

We camped on the Haig Glacier and snow fell throughout the night. About 15 – 20cm’s of snow accumulated overnight, low of -9C, at 2700m, on the Great Divide. With moderate South winds we came across new soft slabs up to 1m deep in sheltered pockets on the Haig Glacier and on the North side of the Sir Douglas/Robertson col. It was snowing lightly with moderate gusts from the south at 0800 today as we retreated back up to the col and down the Robertson. The snow that fell over night was already hardening and the skiing down the glacier was fair. I would not recommend hiking up there to go skiing right now. No big surprises in that observation.

 

I would expect to see soft slab development throughout the area (likely throughout the Rockies) above 2500m. Climbers and hikers should be very aware of what is above them!

 

Kananaskis Country Ice Observations:

 “The Drip at the Center of the Universe” looked very good with ice from top to bottom. Having been up there in past years I would guess there is a pitch of WI 5or 5+ but no mixed. A light rock rack with pitons would be a wise chioce to make belay/rappel anchors if you continue to the summit and if I am wrong in my observations. Surely lots of spindrift today but the approach gully heading up to the climb itself didn’t seem to have much snow, yet.

“R and D” area looked very lean.

“Parallel Falls” also very lean.

“Trick or Treat” is ‘in’,  and the approach is not 4 hours as mentioned in the Ice climbing guide book but more like 1.5 hours.

Ice on the base of Mt. French- “Recession Dodgers” etc. seemed to be formed, from the road, and there may be some unclimbed lines in that area.

 

Rob Owens

ACMG Alpine Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain conditions Summary issued Oct. 18th, 2007.

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 18th, 2007.

 

In the Rockies you should probably expect wind hammered snow above 2500 m anywhere except south faces below 3000 m and high north faces and lee slopes.

 

On wednesday, driving from Canmore to Abraham Lake (David Thompson highway) and on a flight around the Upper Cline River area I saw bits of climbable looking ice on most aspects above 2500 m. The south faces were almost snow and ice free till 3000+ m.  No ice at the Kitty Hawk, Murchison Falls elevations, Riptide is disconnected but Crowfoot Falls, for example, looked climbable. You have to decide if it is worth the approach and if the objective hazards are reasonable.

Lots of water-ice and snow on places like the East Face of Howes pk-Yipes!!! 

 

In the Columbia Mountains, perhaps the most significant observations to mountain travellers were from the Selkirks and Monashees. Recent avalanches of the full depth of the snowpack were observed on both sides of the Columbia River north of Revelstoke. It would be safe to assume they occured sometime during the recent rain events or under the midday sun. Full depth, wet slab avalanches in snow covered glades and gullies between 1700 and 2000 m would be my big nightmare right now. Tell your hunter, logger and early season ski friends. If you find a snowpack more than 50 cm deep in the Rockies and it is getting WARM and/or raining I would be worrying about wet slides to ground there too. The forecast makes it look like it may be cool so it may not be a problem for this weekend. However, that is the forecast, keep your eyes open for what is REALLY happening when you are in the mountains.  

 

There may be isolated pockets of decent skiing in the Columbia's for the desperate. You would need to be High (elevation, that is) and probably somewhat north facing. The usual early season hazards of rock, wood and ice are still waiting. The big question is - do you want to work hard to risk missing a whole winters worth of good skiing for one mediocre October run? Throw in some tricky crusts and possibly very fast ski-outs and you have been warned. There is only a little snow and wind in the Columbia's forecast but keep an eagle eye out for surface windslabs if they get more snow than forecasted. Again, the consequences of even a little ride could be bad with just a few snowflakes between you and all that rock and wood.

 

Throughout the ranges cornices are new and perhaps fragile. Glacier travel will still be a bit serious and the crevasses a bit stronger but even harder to read with a wind crust. Mid elevation scrambles in the Rockies and other dry ranges are probably the safest bet for those who feel the need to go uphill this weekend..

 

Patience Grasshopper,

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide 

[MCR] Snow Conditions

Brian Webster and I were out installing weather stations yesterday and flew
across from Sunshine to Kootenay National Park and back. At the top of
Divide at Sunshine there was about 30 cm of snow with some drifting going
on. There is a hard crust that caries in most places and someone had skied
the upper slope on Divide chair and it looked like OK skiing. In Kootenay
the snowpack was slightly less and there has been more melting. There have
been numerous avalanches size 1-2 on the northerly aspects of Mt. Shanks
and the Monarch. A combination of thin slab and moist loose that seemed to
be running on a crust about 20cm below the most recent snow. Many of these
ran down in to the upper runouts where there was no snowpack leaving brown
piles of wet debris.

Brad White
Mountain Safety Programs Specialist
IFMGA
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary issued Oct. 11th, 2007

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 11th, 2007.

 

Over the past three days conditions seemed to have become quite variable across the ranges. Generally warm temperatures have helped settle the snowpack somewhat but there was dramatic variations in sunshine, wind and wednesday afternoon precipitation between Lake Louise, the Icefields and the interior. 

 

 There were very strong winds along the Lake Louise Divide on Tuesday/Wednesday. Very little snow was being moved around but there may be some hard surface windslabs in places. In 3 days of great visibility I saw no avalanche activity in the O'Hara, Lake Louise area except for some small wet slides out of steep rocks in the afternoon sun. However three recent, large avalanches were reported in the Columbia icefields area. One was 100m wide by 50 cms deep below the bergschrund on the N face of Athabasca. There was a Size 1.5 slab on the toe of the Boundary Glacier. The other was the largest of the three and started around 3000m on a NE aspect.

 

The snowpack in the Columbias is reported to contain a number of crusts and soggy layers from recent scattered rain events. Last weekends great skiing is a thing of the past except perhaps on very high elevation North faces. I am fairly certain that the skiing got severely ravaged by the wind all over the Rockies.

 

Glacier travel conditions have probably changed very little.also. The new snowbridges may gain a little strength if we get a cold clear night, but they are still relatively thin, new and hard to read. "Spooky" said one eloquent report. There is a very good chance that between the drifting and the crust the snow walking may be "character building" in some places.

 

There is some fairly good looking alpine waterfall ice above 2600m's as of yesterday afternoon. Be very cautious with the warm temperatures forecasted for this weekend. Soft ice and wet avalanches would be my concerns. If you think you found a place free of avalanche hazard, at least bring rock gear to keep you lashed to something solid. On Monday there was climbable ice formed on Sad and Beautiful World at 2100m's and all along the Icefield's Parkway. Except for high North facing routes like Riptide all that ice melted away in one warm Tuesday.

 

Given the weather forecast and the current conditions, a sunny mid elevation rock route such as Castle or Yamnuska may be fun if there isn't a breath of wind. Some of the best conditions sound like they may be in the Jasper Front ranges. 

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

 

[MCR] Wapta Icefields (Sept 28 - Oct 4)

Abby Watkins and myself spent a snowy 7 days (Sept 28 - Oct 4) with Thompson River University's Mountain 1 course based out of the Bow Hut. We experienced full winter conditions with daily snowfall accompanied by moderate to strong SW winds. Deep unconsolidated snow made for difficult and time-consuming trail breaking as well as tricky glacier travel as the new snow is offering no bridging support over hidden crevasses. Snow amounts on the glacier ranged from 20cm to 70cm of the wind redistributed variety with a slight crust present 25cm down. Cornices are beginning to form. A couple size 1 - 1.5 slab avalanche observations from the Sept 29 on east aspects. Even with the significant recent snow, skiing would be a bad idea with the variable snow depths, non-supportive base and lurking crevasses and boulders.

 

Sean Isaac

Assistant Alpine Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary issued Oct. 4th, 2007

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 4th, 2007

 

We have fairly limited observations from the past few days, but they all point to the same thing. Like it or not, winter has begun everywhere above 2500m and even lower in some places. As of yesterday afternoon there was over 100cms of snow at 2000m on Mt. Mackenzie above Revelstoke. This morning in Glacier Park there was 40 cms at Fidelity station (1905m) and slush on the highway at the summit of Rogers Pass. Remotely triggered windslabs 4 days ago and recent windslabs up to 200cms thick reported out of the Asulkan Hut. Snow fell at the Bugaboos parking lot. In the Rockies, avalanches up to size 2.5 were observed running off rock slabs in the front ranges and there is snow on the ground at 2000m's at Lake O'Hara. It is 2c and snowing fairly briskly at 6pm in Canmore so I think it is not too much of a stretch to say climbing conditions are terrible "almost" everywhere at the moment. There has been a little less snowfall at the Columbia Icefields and guides have been climbing there successfully but carefully in the last couple of days. One large loose snow avalanche ran off the Silverhorn on Athabasca.

 

There may be some icy dribbles somewhere that may offer some sporty early season ice climbing. Keep in mind that these icicles are probably just barely stuck to rock that was warm fairly recently. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the climbable ice is very likely at an elevation and in terrain where the avalanche danger should be assumed to be unacceptably high for the next couple of days at least. In the short term, I would only consider climbing ice where I can CLEARLY see all the terrain above the route is mostly snowfree. I have no idea where this place would be, but good luck if you find it. 

 

Please keep in mind that the avalanche forecasting situation in early october is very different from midwinter when the Canadian Avalanche Center has daily observations from hundreds of proffesionals working all over the ranges. We have a handful of observations from scattered locations but they are all from proffesional guides and with the exception of the Columbia Icefields, they all say "Bad". 

 

Obviously, skiing is a consideration with all that fresh snow. Again, it should be assumed that the avalanche danger is high and skier triggered avalanches are very possible. All the usual early season caveats about skiing over poorly covered rocks, stumps and alders apply. Now think about how ugly it would be going for a ride in an avalanche over all that junk.

 

Glaciers are nice and white now. Those huge crevasses left open at the end of the summer have anywhere from 50-200cms of unconsolidated new snow over them. Enough to completely camouflague them while offering no bridging strength whatsoever. A probe would be useful as it should still be easy to feel the crevasses. If you can easily feel the crevasses, I bet they can easily feel you. A rope, used well, with a rescue savvy team, would be even more useful as it is perfect conditions for an unexpected crevasse fall.

 

Hey, how about just staying home?  

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Rogers Pass/Asulkan Hut

With Thompson Rivers University, Adventure Programs

We left the trailhead at the Illecillewaet Campground in heavy rain on
09/28 and reached the snow-line at 1700m. 40cm of moist snow at the
Asulkan Hut at 2100m.

The next days travel on the Asulkan glacier towards the Asulkan Pass we
waded through 70cm of increasingly lower density snow the higher we
went. Trail breaking and crevasse detection was time consuming. Slab
development was prevalent around 2300m in the lee of most ridge lines.
We remotely triggered a small slab 20m wide 25m long and about 40cm in
depth. Also visible that day were larger fracture lines on most aspects
above 2500m in elevation, mostly below steep cliffs.

The following 4 days were spent not far from the hut as substantial
snowfall amounts and strong southerly winds accumulated wind slabs
close to 200cm's in depth! (in lee areas). The snow had an up side down
feeling in density and once again travel was very time consuming.

We walked out this morning (10/04) under mostly clear skies and saw a
surprisingly small amount of natural avalanche activity. Snowfall
amounts as of this morning were quite variable because of the strong
winds of the week, but ranged from 20cm to 120cm at 2100m.

Aaron Beardmore
Mountain Guide

Jokull Bergman
Alpine Guide

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.