Spent Aug 16 to 20 climbing some of the big rigs in the Southern Purcells.
Nearly perfect weather allowed us to climb Mt. Jumbo, Karnak, Commander and the Cleaver. The warm weather (including one day of bad smoke) is wreaking havoc on the glaciers, especially below 2900m where very weak bridges were encountered and new creavsses showed up daily. Access to the upper glacier via the "normal route" below the Cleaver may even become impassable within the next week or so. The NE ridge of Mt. Jumbo was a snow climb on Tuesday, but is now an ice climb. Access to the north basin between Jumbo and Karnak was challenging due to large sagging crevasse bridges and will only get worse with any additional warm days. On the positive side, the summit ridges of Karnak and Commander are completely dry.
A great trip to a fantastic range!
Have fun out there.
Jeremy Mackenzie
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
jeremymackenzie@hotmail.com