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