Climbed Mt. Hector today (Jan 22) via the north glacier.
The wind has been hard at work in this area and there seems to be no soft snow left. Hard slabs, soft slabs and scoured earth are the norm. Despite this, we had a great day with very light winds, sunny skies and temperatures in the -15 range. Snow depths on the glacier vary from 20 to 160cm with a few patchs of bare ice showing. Many crevasses are still visible and we made use of a rope on the way up. Crampons and ice axe were helpful for the final summit block. No new avalanches were observed today, but there is evidence of a large cornice failure near the toe of the glacier that looks to be about a week old.
Have fun out there!
Jeremy Mackenzie
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
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