Just back from 4 days in the Bugaboos and Kain hut area. Overall snowpack seems average for mid July. Patchy snows in the moraines just above the hut and more or less continuous snow cover just a bit higher than the Applebee elevation. The Applebee camp site is mostly free of snow and as of July 18 the food bins and hanging racks were not completely installed. Numerous cornice releases were noted on north aspects above 2500m and they did not trigger any deeper releases on the slopes below. Pretty much all of the “usual” routes are getting climbed despite a bit of snow here and there but not really hampering progress. Glacier travel was quite good with well bridged crevasses and about 5cm of boot penetration. Crampons would be useful on the mornings of a freeze however we did not use them over 4 days of travel Bugaboo/Snowpatch col is in good shape and several crevasses are just beginning to be visible although at this stage are well bridged. West Ridge of Pigeon is mostly dry with some snow near the final summit; for our group we did not require crampons. The South and
Happy Climbing
James Blench ACMG/UIAGM
James Blench
www.jamesblench.ca
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