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Friday, July 30, 2010

[MCR] Assiniboine Conditions

At Assiniboine from July 28-30. Thundershowery conditions however they did not hamper activities much and were restricted to the later afternoon. Climbed the NE ridge on July 30. Quite dry to the grey bands particularly if you stay to the easterly side of the ridge. Thru the grey and red bands there are patches of snow and some ice runnels that are avoidable and shrinking fast in the warm weather, but do make the climbing a bit trickier than usual. The ridge above the red bands is mostly dry. The summit ridge is snow-covered with large cornices which are just starting to cleave and require a large margin. We did not use crampons on the climb. Of note: I hand pulled and re-placed several pitons on the fixed stations so beware – otherwise most of the fixed “tat” is reasonable with either quicklinks or biners on them. The Gmoser Highway has one snowpatch which requires climbing for 20m near the start otherwise it is dry. The Hind Hut is quite clean and in good shape – thanks to the Renner Family.

 

Happy Camping

 

James Blench

 

 

James Blench

www.jamesblench.ca

(403)678-2576 home

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