ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued Sept. 3rd, 2009.
The LONG spell of excellent alpine rock climbing ended, at least temporarily, this afternoon. Today, on Cathedral Mountain(Kicking Horse Pass/O'Hara) it starting raining about 1pm well above 3400m and then as the cold front blew in with high winds and lightning around 3pm, things dramatically cooled and snow starting to stick down to around 2700m. Hard to estimate at this point how much snow fell but my wild guess is that most areas of the Rockies and Columbias received less than 10cms.
The question for many routes is-will this snow get a chance to stick to the ice and melt off the rock? It is unlikely enough snow fell to create an widespread avalanche hazard but, I am an expert, and I therefore wouldn't be surprised at all if my guess of snow accumulation is way off!! Obviously any deep drifts are fresh and should be presumed to be fragile. Perhaps the most subtle hazard could be fresh little cornices given all the wind today.
Glaciers are still almost completely bare under the new snow.The new snow and wind may obscure some crevasses, especially on the big icefields.
Alpine ice climbing is still mostly a bad idea on most of the classic faces and gullies. All those terrifying, just melted out rocks and boulders are still just waiting for a nudge. Patience Grasshopper!
Good overnight freeze last night, mostly warm air in the am and big thunderstorms in the pm today. Summer ain't over yet!
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide