[MCR] Ghost River, Alberta

Spent the last week (May 28 - June 2) in the Ghost River area. Our group arrived at the end of the monsoon rains. The logging road was very rough right from the beginning with many potholes and some deeper water runnels on the steep hills, this made for very slow driving. In contrast the 'big hill' was in great shape and much to our dismay, the first river crossing was easy with water no more than mid-tire height. We made it across just fine in a small Suzuki 4x4 and Ford 12 passenger van. The sun came out for the first time in a week, and in a few hours we counted 8 wet slab/loose snow avalanches from all aspects. Upwards of 60cm of new snow was found in the alpine on easy scrambling objectives like BlackRock mountain, and continued solar related avalanches kept us down in the valleys on the rock, and away from the summits.

There was a lot of seeping going on, but this dried out as the week progressed and we enjoyed some fine climbing on Silver Tongue Devil crag, Sentinal Wall, Wully Wall, and South Phantom Crag. As we drove out, many classic routes were looking dry such as The Wraith, Bonanza, Consolation, most of STD wall and pretty much all of South Phantom crag. Expect up to a meter of snow against the base of the cliffs that do not face south. The river crossing on the way out was still in fine shape, and the road had dried out, but was still rough.

Jason Billing
ACMG Assistant Alpine/ Assistant Ski Guide
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

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