We stayed at the SM Hut on the night of the 17th. We came expecting full winter conditions. We climbed on both the 17th and 18th. On friday the weather was cool "ish" and we never really hand sun. We had some melting verglass and soft ground to travel on with very little precip during the day. There was no snow on any of the trails, snow line being well above tree line.
Overnight on the 17th the sky cleared and temps dropped. By morning everything was frozen still and the skies remained clear the whole day.
Trails we snow free but hard, wood. Bridges slippery, rock was ice covered and snow was just perfect for crampon free travel even on steep ground. We kept our objectives to "scrambling peaks". Our objectives, the Mt Kurr traverse and the Whale back traverse were snow covered and more like alpine objectives than scrambles. Foot pen was mostly boot top with a few breakthrough areas punching to knee depth.
Of note, NF aspects such ad Kurr had significant wind slabs near ridge line and enjoyable yet wild snow features on ridge top. The features made for fun climbing but could of been problematic on more exposed ridges.
We also noted large surface hoar yesterday morning on all aspects. This layer is now being buried, likely our first major layer for the season in this general area.
Old man winter is back...at least for now. But maybe "for now" is just because I still want to be rock climbing.
Patrick Delaney
ACMG Alpine Guide
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
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