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[MCR] Athabasca conditions May 28-30

Just returned from 3 days at the Columbia Icefields, working with Grant Meekins on the Yamnuska Snow and Ice long weekend.
 
 Day 1: Parker’s Ridge wind lip is very large allowing for multiple large groups to work on crevasse rescue. We found the slopes on the way up to be wet but still useful for snow walking and self arrest training. Afternoon convective snow squalls came in repeatedly.
 
 Day 2: Athabasca North glacier, crampon and ice axe use. Crevasse rescue practice. We opted to stay low on the toe expecting large amounts of snow higher. Several features provided a good venue for a variety of crampon techniques and easy access to ice for anchors with the thinner snow cover.   
 
 Day 3: Today in the campground we woke to clear skies, 0°,calm for a 0300 start of the AA col route to Athabasca.
 Solid freeze overnight provided excellent travel. We chopped steps on the way up across snow pockets in the upper part of the rock band before the upper Andromeda glacier.  We then used crampons up the AA Col slope, all the way to the summit and back. The slopes below the col have had widespread moist avalanches, which have improved stability and deposited large amounts of debris across the bergshrund providing solid bridging. Variable clouds throughout the day helped to preserve the freeze allowing for easy return off the summit and down the AA Col.
 
 Hard to imagine better conditions for a summit day
   
 John Freeman
 ACMG – Assistant Alpine Guide
 offroute1@gmail.com

          http://offroute-again.blogspot.com/

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Coastal Mountains issued May 27, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Coastal Mountains issued May 27, 2011 ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the South Coast Mountains issued may 27, 2011 The weather conditions remain unsettled through the coming weekend with a drying trend forecast sometime next week. Deep snowpack conditions linger alpine areas of the outer coast and Vancouver Island areas, with the snowpack tapering dramatically towards the east side of the ranges. Freezing levels are fluctuating daily, with snow falling as low as 1200m yesterday in the Cascades and Pemberton areas. With overnight breaks in the cloud cover, the snow in open areas will provide good step kicking in the morning hours, with snow turning isothermal by late morning. Recently, ski touring in the Cascades has been good for travelling, however lots of looming cornices, and storm snow is evident on the peaks. In the South Coast Mountain's I expect the conditions are similar, with periodic snowfall down into the tree-line and some storm snow remaining in alpine areas. A South aspect slab avalanche high up on Mt Birkenhead was visible from way down in the valley bottom in Birken! In the Coquihalla, Yak Pk has had some recent snow slabs gliding off rock slabs, with plenty of remaining hang-fire! If the forecasted warmer weather arrives next week, there is bound to an increase in snow avalanches and rock falls, consider that cornice falls and wet snow avalanches may run down well into the tree-line. I expect that the recent storm snow on the glaciers will disguise crevasses bridges. The local creeks and rivers are high and will continue to rise for a while yet. Paul Berntsen ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies: A2, Mt Athabasca and Mt Wilcox

My fellow guide, Erica Roles, and I guided out of the Columbia Icefields Campground May 20 -25. The first couple of days were spent instructing at Parker's Ridge, we punched a trail up to the practice slopes and gulley. The snow above treeline was carrying well.

May 22nd we climbed A2 via the North Little Athabasca Glacier tongue, Athabasca/Boundary Col and upper Boundary Glacier. Given the clear skies overnight and good freeze travel was dreamy, perfect cramponing on the frozen surface right up to 9,700 feet where the snow started to feel a bit wintery still on the north aspect (that bit of information steered us away from the Ramp route on Athabasca suspecting a wind slab there).

May 24th we climbed Mt Athabasca via the AA Col route with a marginal overnight freeze. The snow carried very well, boot top penetration all the way up and down. We didn't use crampons.

There has been a very large serac collapse across the north face basin of Athabasca and there looks like there is more to come having looked down on some BIG cracks in the hanging Silverhorn Glacier.

May 25th we climbed the south ridge of Mt Wilcox and this was the most problematic ascent of our week due to the amount of snow that is still sitting in Wilcox Pass. We persisted linking bare ground with supportive snow.

Relieved to say that summer mountaineering is doing well at the Icefields, exceptionally so given a good freeze.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

www.barryblanchard.ca

www.yamnuska.com

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures Snow and Ice Long Weekend groups, May 22.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued may 26, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued may 26, 2011 A grey, soggy ass day in the Rockies and Columbia Mountains but the weekend forecasts are looking pretty good. Presently, light rain, not snow falling as high as the summit of Ha Ling. >From the limited observations available, it seems to have been a cool week in the mountains with little change in conditions. Freezing levels along the Rockies Divide hovered around 2800m. In the Columbia Mountains snow still down to the bottom of the Asulkan trailhead. Lots of logging roads into the interior will still be snow covered. No reports from the bugaboos but if the road is open, I imagine the trail will still be a bit of an avalanche threatened ski tour. One large wet avalanche came out of the big avalanche path(Herdman Couloir) west of the North Face of Mt. MacDonald(just east of the Rogers Pass summit) and ran well onto the fan in the past few days. This may have been triggered by a big cornice fall. The main avalanche concerns are these kind of big wet events triggered by daytime heating, intense rain or large triggers like cornices failing, again, with the daytime heating. A bit of snow may fall before the weekend so small slabs are a possibility in the alpine this weekend. If we get a clear night and some good freezes conditions could get excellent in a hurry. Timing will be everything, have a good poke with a probe or something to see if the whole depth of the snowpack is frozen. If it is, get after something and be off before the daytime heating changes things. Lake travel is probably a bad idea as the ice in most alpine lakes is soaked and falling apart. Easy to fall through the ice and really hard to get out of it. Rivers are coming up. Meltwater running under the snowpack is probably just starting to be a concern in some gullies. As I said last week, the bears are out and are mostly foraging in the low elevations. Some south facing alpine rock routes could dry out but anything north facing will be snow plastered for a long time yet. Hiking anywhere above treeline or close to the divide will be like ski touring without skis for awhile yet. If we do get a heat wave, avalanches can and will run well below treeline in a few places. Larry Stanier ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Columbia Icefields Area.

Hello all,
 
Spent the long weekend working and climbing out of the Columbia Icefields area with fellow Yamnuska Guide, Stevie B. Just a few obs we put together over the three days we we're there.  
 
Lot's of snow at Parkers Ridge. The zone around "the" windscoop was a great place for us to play around with crevasse rescue, snow anchors, and self arrest. Probably will be for a while yet as there's still a ton of snow hanging around for this time of year. 
 
Sunday and Monday we spend just below Boundary Peak. Plenty of ice showing through on the climbers left on the tongue of the North Glacier, great for cramponing practice with our crew. The tongue still had the usual strip of snow up the middle of it which made for easy/supportive step kicking to access the glacier above. Snow depth on the way up to Boundary Col was variable but on average between 1.5 and 2 meters, average boot pen in the mornings around 15cm's . 
Reasonable travel Saturday and Sunday on the glacier thanks to the previous few nights of cold temps that seemed to linger a bit in the snow. Unfortunately quickly deteriorating though, with overnight low's of +5C both nights we were there, along with about 5mm or so of rain to summit Sunday night.
 
We'd hoped to have a go at Athabasca on Monday but decided it best to blow off that plan with the warm temps, rain, whiteout visibility, and numerous wet avalanches we could hear locally through the murk at 2am Monday morning. Boundary Peak was a great option for us given conditions. 
 
Even despite the Scottish-like weather we we being basted with monday morning, we got some absolutely amazing views as the clouds seemed to part for us just as we arrived at the summit of Boundary around 8am. A layer in the cloud right around 2500m gave us unbelievable views for the half hour or so we hung around on the top taking photos. Beautiful!
 
There's a few more friends of ours up there working at the moment as well, so if your interested keep your eyes out as I'd imagine they'll have an update to this toward the end of the week.
 
Have fun out there! 
 
Mike
 
 
Mike Trehearne
Assistant Guide.
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
m_trehearne@hotmail.com

[MCR] Oedipus Complex, Cascade Mountain May 23

Climbed Oedipus Complex (5.10c) on Mothers Day Buttress with a friend (an assistant rock guide mentoring day) on May 23.

There was some questionable rock quality, with lots of large hollow sounding blocks in the corner system. The final pitch was weeping a bit, and looked like it had some more loose blocks, with the belay located right below the climbing line with nowhere to hide. So we rappelled from the top of pitch 3. We left new rappel sling at the top of pitch 3 and pitch 1.

The 5.10c moves on pitch 2 are well protected by bolts and offer very good climbing.

Tick season is here, I brought one of the nasty critters home.

Jordy Shepherd
ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.PeakAlpine.com

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies: Lake Louise ski traverse

Yesterday (Saturday) Conrad and I did another great ski traverse:

Lake O'Hara parking - Narao Shoulder - Pope's Col - Plain of 6
Glaciers - Mitre Col - Paradise Valley - Wasatch Pass - Moraine Lake
- Consolation Pass - Boom Lake. I'd be surprised if these cols
haven't been linked before but I haven't heard of anyone doing it
before. Perhaps the most scenic short traverse I've done.

Conditions were not a surprise. The steep, southerly cliffs and faces
were shedding snow and cornices regularly, starting in the late
morning and going into the early evening, running to the bottom of
the fans. We didn't want to be anywhere near these features after
about 11.30 am. We were avoiding overhead hazard that consisted of
steep sun exposed cliffs and cornices. The steep south facing gully
descent from Mitre Col to Paradise valley was just starting to fall
apart at 11.30 am and we wouldn't have wanted to have been there any
later.

There have been a few full depth wet slab releases on south and west
aspects recently, to size 3.

On more moderate terrain the snow became moist or wet by late morning
right to ridgetop on all aspects but overall the snow was reasonably
stable. Easy tracksetting on soft crusts most of the day at all
elevations although we used ski crampons in a few spots in the morning.

The lakes are poor travel now with ankle deep slush over firm ice
slowing things down. A bit tiring at 9 pm on Boom Lake - hour 16 and
km 35...

Conrad Janzen & Mark Klassen
Mountain Guides
story and photos: www.facebook.com/alpinism (no account/password
required)
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued May 19, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued May 19, 2011 This is the first ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the 2011 season. The Canadian Avalanche Centre is putting out what is probably it's last bulletin for the season today. This first summary will focus mainly on travelling conditions so please reference the CAC bulletin for current avalanche and snowpack conditions. It can be viewed at www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/latest Spring has arrived in the Rockies and Columbias but it feels more like late april than mid may. In the Columbia mountains and along the Rockies Divide, snow is still to be found as low as 1200m and people are still skiing to the valley in Rogers Pass. Forecasting mountain travel conditions in general is pretty straightforward for the time being. If it doesn't freeze overnight, skiing and walking could be miserable. With a good freeze and no recent snowfalls you should be able to go almost anywhere that holds snow. Crevasse bridges are starting to sag after all this warmth so warm weather whiteout navigation on the icefields will be even less fun than usual. Rivers are still relatively low but the creeks are coming up and the snowbridge creek crossings are getting skinnier and weaker. Bears are coming out and are probably pretty limited as to where they can get food by all the snow. It is raining moderately hard in Canmore right now(noon) but no snowline in sight. Front ranges rock routes are mostly snow free except the real high north faces. Snow is likely to be encountered on north slopes like the back of yamnuska. Waterfall ice climbing is of course almost done. Anywhere with daggers overhead is a really bad idea at this time of year but psycho keeners could probably still find some sheltered places in the dry ranges if they really need a last fix. Alpine climbing could be awesome when things cool down but I would guess it will be nasty while it is grey and warm. Sometime in the future(June?), if and when it warms up to real spring temperatures we may have another BIG avalanche and cornice fall cycle. For now the snow is just sitting there, like an uninvited guest on your couch:) Larry Stanier ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Mt Clemenceau to Mt Columbia Ski Traverse, May 9-17th, 2011

Just finished guiding a great ski tour from Mount Clemenceau across to the Columbia Icefields along with Simon Robbins.  We were able to climb Mount Triad, King Edward and Mount Columbia along the way, and enjoyed good travel conditions through most of the trip until waking this morning to 25cm of new snow with moderate winds at 2800m on the Columbia Icefields.  This slowed things down but made for some nice turns down the Saskatchewan Glacier exit.

 

Four days of mixed weather and warm temperatures up high kept us moving and limited our climbing opportunities.  This gave way to four clear and cold days with solid crusts down to 1800m and easy travel and climbing.  Mount Triad offered good skiing off the summit on the NW side and good thick snow bridges throughout (3m+) on the 13th.  King Edward was in good shape on the 14th with a solid crust and good crampon travel up the S face to reach the short snow gully on top of the E face which leads to the summit.  The high route to gain the Columbia Icefields from King Edward has more snow on it than I have seen in the past at this time of year and allowed for good travel on a solid crust all the way from 1800m up to 3000m on the 15th.  Mt Columbia was in excellent shape yesterday as reported by Barry.   

 

Avalanche observations were limited to slides caused by daytime warming in the early part of the week when things heated up fast and stayed warm overnight.  We saw no avalanches in the last half of the week due to the solid crusts to 3000m and well settled snow above this.  Today we had very limited observations on the ski out due to blowing snow.  I would expect some wind slabs forming at higher elevations and the usual sluffing and surface slabs in steep terrain until it settles out. 
 

Good coverage on the glaciers throughout the trip with 3m+ above 2400m.

 

The Saskatchewan Glacier offered good snow cover all the way to the toe on its N side, and the exit through the morraines was about 40% walking and 60% skiing using winddrifted snow on the N sides of the creek banks.  The old road out to the highway was still skiable in isothermal snow.  It should last for a few more days to a week but is melting out quickly now.

 

Still great touring and skiing to be had up high when it clears up again.  What a winter!

 

Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Trip photos at www.banffmountainguides.com

[MCR] Rockies, Mt Columbia

I guided an ascent of Mt Columbia via the Athabasca Glacier, May 15-17. There is great snow coverage on the Athabasca Glacier and we were able to ski towing sleds from the toe. The road is not open as of today, May 17th, so you have to carry down, and back up, it.

We passed the first step of the 'Headwall' on the climber's right, the second on climber's left, and the third up the 'Ramp' on May 15th.

May 16th we skied away from our highcamp (3 kms south of Snowdome) at 5 am and got to Mt Columbia about a half hour behind my fellow guides, Conrad Jansen and Simon Robins, and their 4 guests. They were nice enough to kick steps up the SE ridge for us. The ridge has seen several recent ski descents (the face too). Great step kicking conditions and a nice calm time on top.

May 17th, 20 cms of snow overnight with moderate southwest winds. Whiteout navigation to the top of the Ramp were the wind had scoured out a lot of crevasse openings, portals to the underworld. Strong SW winds at ridgetop. We scooted out skiers left through lots of recent, and spooky, serac debris off of Snowdome. Those seracs seem to be quite active, and big, as of late.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

www.barryblanchard.ca

www.yamnuska.com

Conrad and Simon heading up to kick steps for us.

[MCR] Columbia Icefield May 9-15

Spent the week of May 9-15 on the Columbia Icefield with fellow guides Ken Bibby and Terry Palechuk, instructing a group of 7 students from Thompson Rivers University.  We had generally good weather, and easy travel conditions.  We approached and exited via the Saskatchewan Glacier.  On May 12 we had a whiteout day with moderate SW winds and 15-20 cm of new snow that got redistributed onto lee north and east slopes.  Over the week we skied up Snowdome and Kitchener in fine weather, and got to within about 250 metres of the summit of Mt. Columbia on a white and windy day. 

 

We also skied / climbed up Castleguard Mountain on May 14^th.  We elected to pass on the ski ascent line on the north facing slope near the summit of Castleguard, upon finding a sudden planar (clean) shear down 20cm, with a slab on a stiff temperature crust .  Instead, we boot hiked 50m to the summit ridge via a couloir between some rock outcrops, which worked fine.

 

Of note, most of the days were cool and breezy above 2600m, even when the sun was out, and we wore warm jackets on most days while we were touring.

 

One party that approached via the Athabasca Glacier reported having a skier standing tip-to-tail on a hidden crevasse on the headwall.  There was no fall, but caution is advised if you plan to ascend or descend via the Athabasca Glacier.  We measured only 40cm of snow at the low point between Snowdome and Kitchener (3150m), but most areas above 2600m had 3+ metres of snow. 

 

At the top of the Saskatchewan Glacier on May 10^th, at about 2800m, our group of 10 triggered several very noisy and far reaching whumphs while ascending.  During the week we heard several very large icefalls and avalanches in the vicinity of the Columbia Glacier and Mount Columbia.  As we skied down the Saskatchewan Glacier yesterday (May 14) we observed numerous wet avalanches off the south faces of Mt. Andromeda and Mt. Athabasca.  

 

Most of the group towed toboggans, which worked well for most of the trip.  On the exit today (May 15) from the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier we put all the gear on our backs early in the morning and hiked on gravel and supportive discontinuous snow patches for several kilometres.  There had been one wet avalanche during the week over the trail, in the slide path before the jeep trail enters the dense timber on the way out.  There was supportive snow to ski on for the jeep track/trail through the trees that bypasses the canyon, and easy rock hopping across the river just before the parking lot at the big bend.  Below 2400m the snow is rapidly disappearing with the warm weather. 

 

Jordy Shepherd

ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Mt Victoria

For anyone still interested in glisse, some friends and I have experienced excellent skiing above Lake Louise lately. We skied from the South Summit of Victoria yesterday (May 13), via the NE Face. Despite the light freeze overnight, the snow carried well during the approach. The NE Face itself was in the best shape I've seen with good coverage and supportive, boot-top step kicking for the way up.

 

A light wind helped keep things cool and we did not observe any moist snow on the the NE Face proper. Below 3000 meters, we had good corn skiing by 10am. Although there was a great deal of debris present on solar aspects, we did not observe any avalanches during our travels.

Temps at the lake were -1 at 3:30 am and -5 on the summit at 9:00 am. Oddly, the lake seemed better frozen on the way back at 11:30am than it did at 3:30 am.

For anyone headed up that way, it would be better to travel towards the toe of the Victoria Glacier before cutting off towards the Tea House. The Plain of Six Glaciers Trail is strewn with debris for most of it's length and makes for unpleasant travel. 

Cheers,

Andrew

--

Andrew Wexler
ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide

403-707-8615
www.globalalpine.com

[MCR] Selkirk Mtns - Rogers Pass - NRC Gulley May 14/2011

Went for some mid morning corn on NRC Gulley in Rogers Pass today, but lack of overnight freeze resulted in rather underwhelming skiing and kept me below the mid path rock band.

 

The snow surface consisted of 5 cms of wet previously frozen snow over a supportive upper snowpack (At least where I was), made for easy tracksetting on the way up but sticky skiing on the way down.

 

Of note I observed 2 large slabs (size 3)that had released within the last day or so – they were located in shallow windward rocky features (West/Southwest aspect -@ 2400m.)and failed at or close to the ground. Something to keep in mind when managing overhead terrain.

 

I was back down to the highway by 11:30 and hadn’t seen anything run at that point in time – but I suspect some solar aspects may have acted up later in the day.

 

The weather man is calling for a risk of frost overnight in Revy so perhaps we will get a better freeze tonight – without it there will be no fun had – but if it does there is could be some nice corn skiing waiting up Connaught Ck. drainage (behind the hotel)  - gonna take an early start though!

 

Cheers,

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] spring avalanche cycle

The Canadian Avalanche Centre posted this week's avalanche bulletins for all forecast regions yesterday. You can find these bulletins here: http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/latest. Many of you sent information and observations that were very helpful in preparing these updates. Thanks. Keep the information coming over the weekend and next week: send to forecaster@avalanche.ca or call/email me directly (contact info below). Our final update for the season will be issued on Thursday, May 19.

 

Of note this week are reports of a widespread avalanche cycle in the Rockies but I suspect it's also happening in other areas of the interior. Numerous size three avalanches are failing deep in the snowpack, on the ground, and running to the snowline. I'd guess that really big ones might even run into the grass and brush below the snowline so climbers, hikers, ATVers, and hunters beware. What details we have are in the bulletins mentioned above. This cycle is likely to continue through the weekend with warm temperatures and sunny conditions forecast for most of the interior. Where this is happening, it's the first big spring cycle of the season and, while it will likely slow down a bit after a couple of days, conditions will remain challenging and somewhat unpredictable until a decent freeze occurs. Once we've had a couple of cold, clear nights I expect to see more normal spring avalanche conditions where the diurnal melt-freeze cycle is the primary driver of avalanche danger.

 

The coasts have been a bit cooler and wetter and we have not heard of widespread, unusual avalanches there but it's definitely spring out west as well so keep an eye on the effects of gradually warming temperatures and rain. When the sun comes out, expect avalanche activity to pick up and it's not impossible that some of them will be big, deep ones.

 

In all areas, obtain information about conditions from knowledgeable locals before venturing into avalanche terrain. And this season, you'll want to ensure that everyone in your party has avalanche rescue equipment even though it's mid-May—there's still huge amounts of snow in the mountains.

 

Keep your head up if you are going into the mountains this weekend.

 

Karl Klassen
Public Avalanche Warning Service Manager

Canadian Avalanche Centre

Revelstoke, BC

kklassen@avalanche.ca

250-837-2141 ext 227 (office)

250-814-3756

[MCR] Rockies: Mt King Edward

Just back from a trip in to the west side of the Columbia Icefield. 

We climbed King Edward on Tuesday May 10 and then moved camp to be in position to climb onto the main Columbia Icefield via the route leading through the steep gullies and exposed ramp beside Mt Columbia.

May 11 and 12 were spent waiting for cold temperatures below this route. Yesterday and today were both very warm with no overnight freezes. We recorded +8 at 2000 m yesterday about 6 pm. We gave up this afternoon and hitched a ride out with Don McTighe's Bell 407 that was conveniently passing (kind of) nearby.

The weather was mostly cloudy with the high peaks obscured the entire trip with only brief sunny breaks. Last night we had a few cm of wet new snow. Today saw the occasional light rain shower and ice pellets. 

There have been lots of cornice falls and wet snow avalanche activity on all steep slopes. 

We are in the first major heat-up of the spring and I suspect that even the highest peaks now have moist and wet snow surfaces with freezing levels around the 3000+ m mark. The snowpack today at 2000 m was isothermal with foot penetration about boot-top in thick snowpack areas and knee deep or worse near rocks. Yesterday ski penetration was up to knee deep in wet snow in thin areas on moraine walls.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Selkirk Mountains - Rogers Pass - Youngs Pk. - May,9/2011

Went for a sprint up the Asulkan valley to Youngs Pk. today.

 

Good freeze last night made for quick travel up the valley with a supporting crust of varying thickness all the way to the summit of Youngs Pk. (2900m.). Sunny skies today and mild temps made for great corns skiing with a mostly supportive crust on the NW aspects of Youngs Pk. The compacted track in the valley carried skiers in the afternoon and made for a fairly painless ski out.

 

There was an extensive loose and storm slab cycle during yesterdays (May.8/2011) sunshine and mild temps, mostly size 2-2.5. They were limited to the recent 25cms of storm snow, but ran fairly far, on what I would suppose was an old crust. This activity was spread over all aspects.

 

Last night’s freeze calmed down activity today, aside from some minor solar action on steeper slopes.

 

We are in full spring skiing now and everything will hinge on early starts and a good overnight freeze.

 

Watch out for large sun exposed slopes overhead and of course those ever looming monster cornices.

 

Cheers,

Scott Davis

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] cac needs info

I made a typo in the email address when I sent my last message. Please send and field observations to: forecaster@avalanche.ca

 

Cheers,

 

Karl Klassen – Mountain Guide
Public Avalanche Warning Service Manager

Canadian Avalanche Centre

250-837-2141 ext 227

mobile: 250-814-3756

kklassen@avalanche.ca

 

 

 

[MCR] Blue Thunder Ski Traverse - Cariboos

Spent five days putting a new ski traverse around the North Blue and
Thunder River alpine area of the Cariboos with practicum student Riel
Macboudreau, 
Really fun and sporty terrain with outstanding scenery. Our objective
was to also get over the Miledge glacier complex and further develop
this ski traverse but our progress was thwarted by a lack of
overnight freezing.

Weather
The past five days was a typical spring experience with periods of
intense precip dropping 2-5 cm of new snow or (rain below 1800 m),
then clearing with intense solar radiation, convection clouds, some
short blasts of moderate NW winds and air temperatures between -1.0
and + 9.0.

Snowpack Conditions 
Above 1800m the mountains have still been receiving regular inputs
with up to 40 cm of new snow over the past 10 days above
2000m.  Snowpack depth is still between 3.0-4.5m at tree line.
Ski penetration was 5-20 cm and varied with aspect and deep
isothermal snow on steep south aspects. Overnight of May 3rd a strong
wind event created a stiff slab on north and west aspects but we had
little reactivity during travel over steep terrain.
In general the upper 1.0 m of snow is a layered dogs breakfast of new
snow, moist rain or sun effected snow and weak melt freeze crusts
with some ephemeral dry snow on true north aspects above 2300m. Due
to the regular new snow inputs this area has not developed a good
solid travelling surface yet. There was snow cover right to valley
bottom at Hwy#5.

Avalanche Observations
Experienced one large whumpf on a flat morainal feature at 2000m,
only triggered it when I took my skis off during snack time.
The sun was our avalanche button. Lot's of very large wet loose
radiation releases running from ridge line to valley bottom. These
loose wet avalanches carried a lot of volume, running full path on
hard sun/temperature crusts.
As soon as the clouds obscured the sun, the radiation releases would
all but stop enabling us to travel across the run outs.

The most concerning avalanche observations were several deep slab
avalanches we observed in the lower portion of the Thunder River
valley. The start zones were exclusively confined to north aspects at
approximately 1500 m in steep but very skiable below tree line
terrain. Fracture lines looked to be about 1-1.5 m thick and appeared
to be sliding on a hard bed surface, these had very extensive
propagation. One looked to be a size 4 and pushed over some mature
trees extending the historical run out.Cornices have not been very
active in this neck of the woods yet, with much of their mass still
to come down. The very warm temperatures forecasted for the week
ahead should get them dropping.

Overall, the mountains here are finally in transition and anyone
still venturing out skiing should still be thinking about deeper
releases on buried crusts in skiable terrain on all aspects, even at
lower elevations. Even when you have a thick crust supporting your
travel there may be something unsavoury lurking deeper in the snowpack.

Followed two Thunder river grizzlies out the valley, and the North
Blue grizzly came out about 10 days ago. The wolves and wolverines
liked to walk over top the grizzly tracks in places leaving evidence
of a menagerie of wildlife activity.

Dana Foster Ludwig
ACMG Ski Guide/CAA Prof Member
Snowy Mountain Alpine Tours
Blue River - Clearwater BC
P 250 674 2988

Thunder Glacier

[MCR] cac needs info

 

Just a reminder that the CAC is producing weekly avalanche conditions updates for another couple of weeks. Almost all of our usual sources of information are now shut down and we are working with extremely limited field observations. If you were out over the weekend or are in the mountains over the next few days. we'd love to hear from you about weather conditions (especially new snow/rain, temperatures, and cloud), snowpack (dry/moist/wet/crust on surface, wind transported snow, whumphs/cracking) and avalanche activity (when, how much, aspect/elevation, loose/slab, dry/wet). Any observations from anywhere are welcome--even if you are just driving the highway and see something from the valley bottom. Please send any observations to: forcaster@avalanche.ca

 

We are operating with skeleton staffing we're not in the office on a regular basis but you can reach me at my desk: 250-837-2141 extension 227 (leave a message if I'm not there) or on my mobile: 250-814-3756 (I'm on call more or less every day until the May long weekend).

 

Our next update is scheduled for Thursday May 12. Any data in the next few days would be extremely helpful and very welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Karl Klassen – Mountain Guide
Public Avalanche Warning Service Manager

Canadian Avalanche Centre

250-837-2141 ext 227

mobile: 250-814-3756

kklassen@avalanche.ca

 

 

 

[MCR] Cirque Peak, Banff Park, May 7

Ken Bibby and I skied up Cirque Peak with a group from Thompson Rivers University Adventure Studies. We ascended the peak via Helen Creek and the south ridge. Very good travel conditions with a couple of cm's of new snow on a supportive crust. Ski crampons were utilized for much of the ascent, and we boot hiked the final 100 metres. We didn't bring boot crampons, and didn't need them.

We did a 60 m lower off the two bolt anchor, from the notch between the summits and down the north facing couloir, and skied out Jimmy Simpson creek to the highway.

Great ski conditions with well settled snow and a bit of soft powder on the high north facing slopes, and supportive corn skiing on the solar aspects in the afternoon. Quite cool temps for May ( -7 C at 07:00 at 2300m) and no dramatic warming, with cloud in the morning and broken sky cover the afternoon.

Jordy Shepherd
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies, attempt on The Undertow

My buddy, Jonny Blitz, and I made an attempt on The Undertow on
Tangle Ridge, May 4-6. Having packed for a different objective, we
hustled to repack when we saw the weather forecast step down on
Wednesday morning. Got our bivy permit from Grant at the Icefields
Centre, which is fully up and running, and walked away from the truck
at noon. Everything went well until the top of Shades Of Beauty,
which is in fine shape (we walked around the first 2 pitches and
climbed the last). From the top of Shades things got more challenging
-read post holing and wallowing and trying to read by Braille the
faint track of the seekers-who-went-before, seekers who turned around
after several hundred meters and I wished that they hadn't. We turned
the rockband overhead via scrambling up a break/avalanche path. The
path had sloughed/slid in the past and offered firm footing so we
kicked steps up it to tree line and then turned left to the route and
the trail-breaking really got sick. It was like going ski touring
without skis (if I was to go back I would take skis). Three hours of
hard to-the-crotch work got us to the flats and forest below the
climb (the flats were the worst). We would have turned back had the
climb not looked so good. We saw no avalanches on Wednesday.

5 am we set out and the snow was carrying no better. We were reduced
to the level of dumb beasts crawling for 30 meter stretches on hands
and knees. Thankfully the slopes below the climb carried properly
with boot top steps once we got off of the accursed 'flats'. Took us
3 hours to get to the ice.

The climb is hard and complicated with superstructures of blobs and
curtains that sit over matrixes of icicles none of them very large.
There are no big blue pillars, it climbs well with good picks but is
a challenge to protect. 4 of our anchors involved pitons and nuts (we
took a small selection and no cams). 12 hours of engagement saw us
2/3rds of the way up the route at the bottom of a grade 6 or 6+
pitch. We bailed back to the tent (got back to it at 10 pm).

The route is seeing a couple hours of sun in the morning. Wet stains
formed on its edges by 4 pm on Thursday and small chunks of ice began
falling, some small snow features fell from the wall. A point 5
surface slough had ran over our approach tracks in the afternoon.

Neither of the mixed lines are there this year.

Friday we were walking by 8am and back to the truck at 11:30 am. Our
track carried well on the way out. A half dozen surface sloughs had
run on Thursday, one a size 2 that ran close to Beauty Creek.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com

[MCR] Rockies, Icefall Lodge, Mt Forbes

Skied the last week at Icefall Lodge. The week started with spring conditions, good freezes overnight, supportive crusts and dry powder on north aspects. Since Tuesday May 3 15 cm of snow has fallen at 2500m. This is settling quickly at lower elevations. This morning at 1900m we had a temperature of -.5 and a 5 cm thick crust which supported most of the morning. North aspect now have a temperature crust up to 2200m with dry snow above. There was some cracking around our skis on wind loaded areas near ridge line but we weren't able to ski cut any avalanches.
On May 2 we climbed Mt Forbes and skied from the shoulder 150m below the summit. A party the day before had skied from the summit. There are large patches of bare ice on the east side of the face but the centre is pretty well covered, picture below. The North Glacier of Forbes also has large patches of blue ice on the side, but had over 320 cm of snow in several places we probed. The Lyell and Mons Glaciers appeared to have better coverage and were over 320cm everywhere we probed. The valleys in Glacier Lake and Alexandra still looked to be well covered with snow.

[MCR] Observation Sub-Peak, Banff Park April 3

Skied up the highway side of Observation Sub-Peak today with fellow ski guide Ken Bibby and a group of university students.
Broken clouds and convective snow flurries kept the temperature around -2. There was a moderate northwest wind transporting snow across the summit ridge.
We skied down via the south facing bowl off the summit, into the drainage known locally as Jimmy Simpson Creek.
Ken skied over to assess the open south east facing slope below the summit, at about 2850m. He found 40 cm of soft slab on a buried sun crust. As he was skiing back towards the group and reporting that the stability was suspect, a 20 - 60 cm deep fracture released 15 metres behind him. It was 75 m wide and ran 250+ m on the buried sun crust.
We were able to safely descend the south facing slope adjacent to the avalanche on a stiff surface of sun crust (so no slab avalanche danger).

Jordy Shepherd
Mountain Guide

Ken Bibby
Ski Guide

_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rockies: Coolior

Today we skied the Coolior. Our primary concern was the set of 10
minute old grizzly tracks we found as we silently shussed through the
forest on the way back to the road.

Mark Klassen
Mountain Guide

Erica Roles
Asst Ski/Asst Alpine Guide

[MCR] Coast Range - Garibaldi Neve - April 25th to May 1st

Chris Lawrence and I returned today (Sunday) from guiding a ski mountaineering course for 7 days on the Garibaldi Neve. We started from Rubble Creek April 25^th and ended at Diamond Head May 1st.

 

Access

The road is not plowed to the summer parking lot at Rubble Creek. We parked at the winter plowing line marked on the Garibaldi Park map. We were able to skin up to the summer parking lot, then boot packed up patchy snow to around 800m elevation where we put on our skis. Garibaldi Lake was still very frozen, with no indication of any problems crossing it soon. At Rubble Creek, two of our 3 cars were found with smashed windows and stolen gear on return (including my 1L tub of vegemite!).  Skiing out to the Diamond Head parking lot was well covered.

 

New Snow

New storm snow was observed from 20-35cm depending on elevation and aspect.

 

Avalanches

No significant avalanches were observed. Our main concern was wind slabs near ridge top as we encountered strong winds on Wednesday April 27^th from the South, then switching to West overnight. These were observed up to 70cm deep. The sun did not have much effect on the snowpack during the week.

 

Glaciers

Glaciers were well generally well covered, with 300cm probed at the toe of the Sphinx Glacier. The bergshrund on Mt Garibaldi's NE Face was very large. We opted to cross it on the climbers left due to concerns with wind slabs on the right. While skiing down over the bergshrund, I ski cut a small size 1 wind slab that was enough to break the bridge and further open up the bergshrund.

 

Snow conditions

Snow was still wintery above 2200m on northerly aspects on April 29^th. By May 1^st we found a supportable crust below the Elfin Shelter that was beginning to soften, so I would expect corn skiing can now be found.

Alex Geary (ACMG Assistant Ski Guide, Assistant Rock Guide)
Chris Lawrence (ACMG Mountain Guide)

[MCR] Ventigo Lake to Fairy Meadows Ski Traverse, Northern Selkirks, April 23-30, 2011

Just returned from guiding a great ski traverse with Tom Wolfe starting just above Ventigo Lake and skiing across to Fairy Meadows over the course of a week.  We were able to climb and ski Iconoclast, Argentine Mountain, Centurion Ridge and Sentinel Peak along the way and had generally good to excellent travel and ski conditions throughout the week!  Great treeline camping and North facing ski runs throughout.

 

Spring is finally arriving in the alpine with firm crusts on solar aspects in the morning and moist snow on all but high North aspects in the afternoon.  We used ski crampons quite a bit during our last three days which was very useful on the steeper slopes.  Ski conditions on N aspects remained good until yesterday but were beginning to show signs of the warmer temperatures by this morning.  Below 1800m the snow is starting to have an isothermal feel to it on the surface, but still provided good travel especially in the morning. 

 

Glacier coverage was excellent with more than 3m of snow in all but the most wind blown areas of ice.  The bergschrunds on Iconoclast and Argentine still remain a concern as do some areas in Fairy Meadows such as Pioneer Pass.  I think most of these have seen avalanches on the basal facets at some point during the winter and are thinly bridged.

 

We did not see any new avalanches other than a few solar triggered loose slides on steep south aspects in the afternoon during our week.  We did still have some minor concerns for small wind slabs on steep N aspects from the Thursday storm but this seems to be improving daily.  No whumphing and no significant results in the snow pack tests we did during the week.  Seems like a pretty good time to have a look at the bigger lines in the area. 

An excellent traverse with great company and a fun way to explore the Northern Selkirks!

 

Cheers, Conrad Janzen
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
Trip photos at www.banffmountainguides.com