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 14th. 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 10th, 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