ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 16th, 2008.
We are well into autumn. In the mountains it has been generally COLD the past week. Generally light snow has fallen to and remained at around 2000m along the divide in the Rockies. In the Columbia's there was more snow on average. At 1905 meters on Mt. Fidelity, on the west side of Rogers Pass, there is approx 50 cms of settled snow on the ground. I am going to go out on a limb here and speculate that it may be a bit slippery on Mt. Sir Donald.
Glacier travel continues to be the autumn gamble. I would imagine that the odd piece of benign looking glaciated terrain that feels very casual in the early summer would be fairly terrifying right now. Probe, probe and then probe some more.
Rock climbs are pretty white around Canmore. Perhaps Yamnuska and other south facing cliffs would be fine with a late start and a FAST!!! team. Otherwise, it has been cold till mid morning and the only heat has been from the radiation. The rock is staying cold without the radiation and this isn't likely to change for awhile.(Spring?) The nights are very long, very cold and probably very lonely up high right now. Bataan? At least you would get warm hiking.
The ICE? That is the only useful question right now. Certainly it is likely to be very thin in the dry ranges and below treeline. In the alpine and closer to the divide of the Rockies there is likely to be some "climbable" pitches.
There are 2 big problems to consider if you are dumb enough to October ice climbing.
1.Forget the guidebook grades. They will likely be thin, hard and REALLY difficult to protect. Bring rock gear, especially pins and assume any pitches you scope will be way harder than they look. And, Yes, no matter how much you THOUGHT about ice climbing over the summer, you really haven't gotten any better at it yet.
2. Nasty little early season avalanches. There has been a sad trend of early season avalanche fatalities over the past few years. There is very little snow in the Rockies, but, I am guessing that any gully with climbable ice right now also has a big drift above to feed it and possibly a big cone at the base. Do not forget that these early season drifts are wild cards. None of us have any clear idea of the snow stability in those isolated drifts right now! All we do know is that the consequences of going for a ride there are likely to be fatal. Belay, retreat, reconsider.
Skiing? Hah, maybe in some desperate little patch in the Columbias. Patience, a long winter awaits. Check out the new film "The Fine Line" and make some plans. Winter is coming.
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide