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Monday, December 1, 2008

[MCR] Goat Traverse and Yam Area (1 Dec)

Out climbing in the Yamnuska area today where I found some fairly good rock conditions (for December). For those tired of lining up for limited ice or root skiing while we wait for winter to properly arrive, here's what I saw. 

The clouds and precip clogging the valley around Canmore throughout the day were blown off the Goat Area by strong-to-gale force winds at ridge-top, so there was only the slightest dusting late in the day. Since the system was still parked to west of the range-front at day's end, with any luck these conditions might linger for a bit.  

Goat Peaks Traverse

In spite of the somewhat plastered look of all the upper east faces, the traverse across the Goat Peaks was surprisingly dry and snow-free with a little routefinding. Only the final 50m descending to the col at the Yam shoulder had unavoidable snow (no ice) and was trickier downclimbing.  If you haven't done it, this traverse is a good "fitness" day and although mostly a lot of scrambling, the second half has enough exposed/techy ridge bits and routefinding to keep the climbing interesting. Round trip from Graymont is 5-10 hours via Yam (incl. ~7km on the road).

Coire Dubh

From a (good) distance, the bottom ice looked almost 'in', but the top is definitely still a rock climb.

Yamnuska

Climbing on the west end of Yam was snow and ice-free and quite pleasant (again, for Dec.) The backside (what I saw of it) and west descent trail were snow-free, and the rest of the face looked quite dry.

Carl Johnston
ACMG Rock Guide