[MCR] Maligne lake Bald Hills

Up for a ski to the Bald Hills. Up the road, then the summer trail
and down the road from the hitching rail. 5-10cm of new snow
overnight. A strong rain crust lower down supports you and though
there is only about 15cm at the parking lot the road is Ok gliding on
the crust.

There is about 40-50 cm at treeline. The new snow sits on top of the
same raincrust, about 5cm thick and supportive if you ski smoooth...
Below the crust the snow is moist, and wet right at ground. No shears
or compressions were found. Once it cools the lower pack should gain strength.
It looks different higher in the alpine where there has been quite
a bit of wind transport. Loading is evident on N aspects and there
is certainly enough snow to trigger avalanches. No avalanche
activity observed.

People have been skiing down the summer trail but I would maybe play
on the low angle slopes near treeline but take the road down.
Reasonable early season skiing by Rockies standards!
Peter Amann

Peter Amann
Mountain Guiding
Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0
780 852 3237
www.incentre.net/pamann
pamann@incentre.net

_______________________________________________
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] more info on fatal avalanche

Following is a bit more information about yesterday's avalanche accident in the Rockies:

 

The accident occurred on a waterfall ice climb just south of the Fortress ski area. The climb lies below a large alpine bowl. An avalanche from the bowl above swept over the climb early in the afternoon of Sunday, November 5th. The leading climber was partially protected by a rock outcrop which deflected the debris around and over him--a close call. The lower climber was buried in a gully feature. The party did not have avalanche transcievers, probes, or shovels. The surviving climber followed the rope to the vicinity of his partner and dug for approximately 45 minutes with his helmet before going for help.

 

The slide occurred on an east aspect. The area above the climb was lee to westerly winds, which had been transporting snow at upper elevations early in the storm when it was colder and the snow was dryer. Poor weather and bad visibility have hampered efforts to determine exactly what happened, but a fracture line was seen in the alpine bowl above the climbers. It is suspected that a smaller avalanche from near the ridgecrest at about 2600m (perhaps a sluff) triggered a slab in the bowl, which gained mass as it descended and caught the climbers in the terrain trap below.

 

The victim was found by Kananaskis Country rescue personnel. Preliminary reports indicate the victim was deeply buried (perhaps as much as 300cm below the surface) in a terrain trap.

 

News reports indicate the victim was alive when recovered about 2 hours after the avalanche and later died in hospital.

 

It should be noted that the Kananaskis Country started issuing avalanche bulletins on November 2 and the bulletins prior to the incident identified the existence of isolated slabs above treeline and specifically warned of the hazard presented by these slabs on ice climbs.

 

You can get the Kananaskis Country avalanche bulletin at www.avalanche.ca by going to the Canadian Avalanche Centre site, then Bulletins > Current Bulletins

 

Here in Revelstoke, the heavy rainfall warning was lifted earlier today and precipitation slowed by late afternoon. 32.5mm recorded at the airport yesterday. Felt like at least 20mm today, maybe more. Warming trend continues, +9 forecast for tomorrow morning, then cooling with showery precipitation forecast for the next couple of days. Depending on how much it cools, things might freeze up--at higher elevations anyway--by Thursday.

 

Karl Klassen
Mountain Guide
1735 Westerburg Road
Revelstoke,  BC
Canada
V0E 2S1
250-837-3733
kklassen@rctvonline.net

[MCR] avalanche accident

It has been brought my attention that there has been an avalanche fatality in the Rocky Mountains. Ice climbers on a route in Kananaskis Country were struck by an avalanche yesterday. I have no details at this time.

 

In the Revelstoke area, a decent early-season snowfall has been followed by rising temperatures and rain. I'm not sure how high the freezing levels are at the moment but it looks like they are rising and it looks likely that there will be rain to mountain-top in the coming 24 hours. We've probably had 20mm in the cental Columbia Mtns last night and today and it looks like another 20 - 40mm at valley bottom elevations in the coming 24 hours. If this weather happens as forecast, there will be heavier, warmer, moister snow will overlying lighter, cooler, dryer snow--this may already be the case and if it is, it'll only get worse before it gets better.

 

I'd be concerned about the short-term avalanche danger in the coming days as temps rise and rain loads and thaws the recently fallen new snow.

 

Be careful if you go into the mountains in the coming days. Remember that what you see at the trail-head is going to be very different than what is happening above you. Especially if the weather is poor and visibility is limited, it'll be quite difficult to know what's going on at higher elevations.

 

Karl Klassen

Mountain Guide
1735 Westerburg Road
Revelstoke,  BC
Canada
V0E 2S1
250-837-3733
kklassen@rctvonline.net

[MCR] Ice conditions

Warm temperatures this weekend have resulted in fragile ice conditions on
some of the routes that did form. Keep in mind that some routes only just
formed during the cold spell a week ago. Many of these thin routes are
poorly welded to the rock. This was confirmed during an incident this
weekend when a pitch fell off while someone was trying to climb it.

An avalanche accident this weekend in K-Country involving ice climbers is a
reminder that the avalanche season has started. Do not let the sight of
extensive bare ground fool you. Gullies and basins above where some of the
early season routes have formed have windslabs in them and the wind combined
with warm temperatures is not helping stability.

It is supposed to get warmer yet. As Larry said last Thursday-Patience!

Marc Ledwidge
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] Rogers Pass info correction

HI I just reread my message and noted a typo that changed the meaning of what I meant considerably:

What was written was:

I could also trigger sluffs easily by pushing the soft snow with my skis on top of the crust – meaning that it is now well bonded to the crust for sure.

 

And what I meant to say was:

I could also trigger sluffs easily by pushing the soft snow with my skis on top of the crust – meaning that it is NOT well bonded to the crust for sure.

 

Hopes this makes more sense – it is still dumping in Revy.

Cheers,

 

Scott Davis

Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Rogers Pass - Then(Nov.1/06) and Now (Nov.3/06)

I went for a hike/ski tour up the Asulkan valley on Nov.1 and here are some observations I made that day.

 

Valley bottom had progressively 10-30cm. of snow cover – the lower 2/3rds was a strong melt freeze crust and the upper 1/3^rd was fluffy powder snow.

 

The crust pretty much carried to around 2000m. (6600ft.) above which it quickly disappeared – average snowdepth at this elevation was @60cm. – the upper 25cm was again fluffy powder snow. Once I climbed above treeline the snowpack depth was highly variable due to the high winds that accompanied the earlier snowfall – I didn’t travel any higher than the elevation of the Asulkan hut (@2200m – 7200 ft.).

 

I did note a number of size 2 avalanches that had released to the glacier ice on some steep rolls on the Sapphire Col Glacier. I could also trigger sluffs easily by pushing the soft snow with my skis on top of the crust – meaning that it is now well bonded to the crust for sure.

 

As Larry mentioned in his earlier summary the skiing was nothing short of early season conditions with numerous hazards related to shallow snowpack conditions.

 

That was then – and this is NOW.

 

I am not sure what Rogers Pass has received as of this time but there is approximately 30cm. of heavy snow in the Revelstoke townsite that has fallen overnight – so if you are thinking of going skiing this weekend (that would be the guy on your shoulder with the devils horns speaking to you) – think again – the precipitation is expected to continue throughout the weekend and into Monday with climbing freezing levels – given what I saw the other day I am sure that anything that is worth skiing would be quite unstable with this additional heavy snowload – so listen to that other little guy on your shoulder (the one with the halo) and give the weekend a miss.

 

Best of the coming ski season to you,

Cheers,

 

Scott Davis

Mountain Guide

 

 

[MCR] Mountain Conditions Summary for Nov. 2nd, 2006

Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued Nov. 2nd, 2006

 

We are firmly settled into the early winter doldrums. A fairly big storm on the weekend brought around 30cms of snow to treeline in many areas with some strong west winds. The wind also blew on sunday/ monday as we transitioned into clear, cold and calm for the last couple of days across the ranges.

 

There is approximately 30cms of recent snow in the Columbia Icefields and Jasper east slope areas. This has been quite wind affected so expect more in gullies and lee features. Strong west winds have built up some fresh, big cornices. Bow Summit has 50cms of unconsolidated snow and you are still skiing on the ground. Conditions are similiar around Lake Louise. The best skiing in the Rockies is undoubtably the fresh trackset on the Moraine Lake road.

 

Rogers Pass reports 50cms of snow at 1900m at Fidelity(west side of the pass). 5-10cms of light snow at the road. This means any skiing around there will involve a long approach on foot on the lightly snow ocvered trails to some poorly covered rocks and logs at treeline. Don't even think about travelling through the alders. Glacier Park should soon be putting out its first avalanche bulletin of the season.  

 

The best downhill ski conditions are probably on the glaciers in the interior but the wind has been at it. The snow bridges there and in the Rockies are probably thin and weak and cleverly disguised by the recent low density snow.

 

There is some hope for ice climbers and skiers. A few hardy souls have been getting on the thin ice on the east slopes of the Rockies and the thin snow on the west slope of the Columbias.There are probably some good turns and good pitches to be had. However, keep two things in mind. You will probably be working really hard on the approaches and, most importantly, you REALLY don't want to fall on thin ice or thin snow!

 

High north facing ice routes are the only realistic hope. The usual early season suspects such as R+D and Amadeus have been climbed. Bow Falls, the Weeping Wall, Shades of Beauty and a few other high flow routes are probably close but wet. Field is still just wet. Check www.gravsports.com for more details. I would also really like to encourage ice climbers to leave a note on their car as to their destination, especially in parking lots that access several routes. Paper under the wipers or scratch it in the rear window dirt. It allows for better decision making by the late sleepers and is just plain polite. 

 

The weather forecast has been changing frequently in the last few days. The latest forecasts for the Rockies and interior point to a grey and slightly warmer weekend. Rain at low elevations and snow up high on the already thin and weak snowpack would be nothing but bad news in the short term. Either stand in line for a thin ice route or ski REALLY carefully. Patience, grasshopper! It is never worth getting hurt for bad skiing or bad climbing.

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide