[MCR] Kananaskis Observations (Robertson-Haig)

HI all early season keeners,

 

Headed up the Robertson Glacier in K-country yesterday (Oct 20^th) afternoon to check out some climbing off the Haig Glacier.

 

We put ski’s on just before the toe of the Robertson. The glacier was 90% covered by snow with variable surfaces from wind scoured neve and soft wind deposited snow up to 1m deep over a variety of crusts and wind hardened surfaces.

 

As seen in most glaciated areas, the snow seems to be quite strong and is providing good bridging over crevasses, but with such a varying depth in the snowpack it would be easy to misjudge and punch through into a crevasse. Fall and early winter is commonly the most dangerous and unpredictable time of year to travel on glaciers as the snow may be “strong” but it may only be a few centimeters thick over large holes! Unless you are very familiar with the glacier (when it’s free of snow) and have good visibility to see the crevasses, than a rope and the skill set to use it is highly advisable.

 

We camped on the Haig Glacier and snow fell throughout the night. About 15 – 20cm’s of snow accumulated overnight, low of -9C, at 2700m, on the Great Divide. With moderate South winds we came across new soft slabs up to 1m deep in sheltered pockets on the Haig Glacier and on the North side of the Sir Douglas/Robertson col. It was snowing lightly with moderate gusts from the south at 0800 today as we retreated back up to the col and down the Robertson. The snow that fell over night was already hardening and the skiing down the glacier was fair. I would not recommend hiking up there to go skiing right now. No big surprises in that observation.

 

I would expect to see soft slab development throughout the area (likely throughout the Rockies) above 2500m. Climbers and hikers should be very aware of what is above them!

 

Kananaskis Country Ice Observations:

 “The Drip at the Center of the Universe” looked very good with ice from top to bottom. Having been up there in past years I would guess there is a pitch of WI 5or 5+ but no mixed. A light rock rack with pitons would be a wise chioce to make belay/rappel anchors if you continue to the summit and if I am wrong in my observations. Surely lots of spindrift today but the approach gully heading up to the climb itself didn’t seem to have much snow, yet.

“R and D” area looked very lean.

“Parallel Falls” also very lean.

“Trick or Treat” is ‘in’,  and the approach is not 4 hours as mentioned in the Ice climbing guide book but more like 1.5 hours.

Ice on the base of Mt. French- “Recession Dodgers” etc. seemed to be formed, from the road, and there may be some unclimbed lines in that area.

 

Rob Owens

ACMG Alpine Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain conditions Summary issued Oct. 18th, 2007.

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 18th, 2007.

 

In the Rockies you should probably expect wind hammered snow above 2500 m anywhere except south faces below 3000 m and high north faces and lee slopes.

 

On wednesday, driving from Canmore to Abraham Lake (David Thompson highway) and on a flight around the Upper Cline River area I saw bits of climbable looking ice on most aspects above 2500 m. The south faces were almost snow and ice free till 3000+ m.  No ice at the Kitty Hawk, Murchison Falls elevations, Riptide is disconnected but Crowfoot Falls, for example, looked climbable. You have to decide if it is worth the approach and if the objective hazards are reasonable.

Lots of water-ice and snow on places like the East Face of Howes pk-Yipes!!! 

 

In the Columbia Mountains, perhaps the most significant observations to mountain travellers were from the Selkirks and Monashees. Recent avalanches of the full depth of the snowpack were observed on both sides of the Columbia River north of Revelstoke. It would be safe to assume they occured sometime during the recent rain events or under the midday sun. Full depth, wet slab avalanches in snow covered glades and gullies between 1700 and 2000 m would be my big nightmare right now. Tell your hunter, logger and early season ski friends. If you find a snowpack more than 50 cm deep in the Rockies and it is getting WARM and/or raining I would be worrying about wet slides to ground there too. The forecast makes it look like it may be cool so it may not be a problem for this weekend. However, that is the forecast, keep your eyes open for what is REALLY happening when you are in the mountains.  

 

There may be isolated pockets of decent skiing in the Columbia's for the desperate. You would need to be High (elevation, that is) and probably somewhat north facing. The usual early season hazards of rock, wood and ice are still waiting. The big question is - do you want to work hard to risk missing a whole winters worth of good skiing for one mediocre October run? Throw in some tricky crusts and possibly very fast ski-outs and you have been warned. There is only a little snow and wind in the Columbia's forecast but keep an eagle eye out for surface windslabs if they get more snow than forecasted. Again, the consequences of even a little ride could be bad with just a few snowflakes between you and all that rock and wood.

 

Throughout the ranges cornices are new and perhaps fragile. Glacier travel will still be a bit serious and the crevasses a bit stronger but even harder to read with a wind crust. Mid elevation scrambles in the Rockies and other dry ranges are probably the safest bet for those who feel the need to go uphill this weekend..

 

Patience Grasshopper,

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide 

[MCR] Snow Conditions

Brian Webster and I were out installing weather stations yesterday and flew
across from Sunshine to Kootenay National Park and back. At the top of
Divide at Sunshine there was about 30 cm of snow with some drifting going
on. There is a hard crust that caries in most places and someone had skied
the upper slope on Divide chair and it looked like OK skiing. In Kootenay
the snowpack was slightly less and there has been more melting. There have
been numerous avalanches size 1-2 on the northerly aspects of Mt. Shanks
and the Monarch. A combination of thin slab and moist loose that seemed to
be running on a crust about 20cm below the most recent snow. Many of these
ran down in to the upper runouts where there was no snowpack leaving brown
piles of wet debris.

Brad White
Mountain Safety Programs Specialist
IFMGA
_______________________________________________
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 Summary issued Oct. 11th, 2007

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 11th, 2007.

 

Over the past three days conditions seemed to have become quite variable across the ranges. Generally warm temperatures have helped settle the snowpack somewhat but there was dramatic variations in sunshine, wind and wednesday afternoon precipitation between Lake Louise, the Icefields and the interior. 

 

 There were very strong winds along the Lake Louise Divide on Tuesday/Wednesday. Very little snow was being moved around but there may be some hard surface windslabs in places. In 3 days of great visibility I saw no avalanche activity in the O'Hara, Lake Louise area except for some small wet slides out of steep rocks in the afternoon sun. However three recent, large avalanches were reported in the Columbia icefields area. One was 100m wide by 50 cms deep below the bergschrund on the N face of Athabasca. There was a Size 1.5 slab on the toe of the Boundary Glacier. The other was the largest of the three and started around 3000m on a NE aspect.

 

The snowpack in the Columbias is reported to contain a number of crusts and soggy layers from recent scattered rain events. Last weekends great skiing is a thing of the past except perhaps on very high elevation North faces. I am fairly certain that the skiing got severely ravaged by the wind all over the Rockies.

 

Glacier travel conditions have probably changed very little.also. The new snowbridges may gain a little strength if we get a cold clear night, but they are still relatively thin, new and hard to read. "Spooky" said one eloquent report. There is a very good chance that between the drifting and the crust the snow walking may be "character building" in some places.

 

There is some fairly good looking alpine waterfall ice above 2600m's as of yesterday afternoon. Be very cautious with the warm temperatures forecasted for this weekend. Soft ice and wet avalanches would be my concerns. If you think you found a place free of avalanche hazard, at least bring rock gear to keep you lashed to something solid. On Monday there was climbable ice formed on Sad and Beautiful World at 2100m's and all along the Icefield's Parkway. Except for high North facing routes like Riptide all that ice melted away in one warm Tuesday.

 

Given the weather forecast and the current conditions, a sunny mid elevation rock route such as Castle or Yamnuska may be fun if there isn't a breath of wind. Some of the best conditions sound like they may be in the Jasper Front ranges. 

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

 

[MCR] Wapta Icefields (Sept 28 - Oct 4)

Abby Watkins and myself spent a snowy 7 days (Sept 28 - Oct 4) with Thompson River University's Mountain 1 course based out of the Bow Hut. We experienced full winter conditions with daily snowfall accompanied by moderate to strong SW winds. Deep unconsolidated snow made for difficult and time-consuming trail breaking as well as tricky glacier travel as the new snow is offering no bridging support over hidden crevasses. Snow amounts on the glacier ranged from 20cm to 70cm of the wind redistributed variety with a slight crust present 25cm down. Cornices are beginning to form. A couple size 1 - 1.5 slab avalanche observations from the Sept 29 on east aspects. Even with the significant recent snow, skiing would be a bad idea with the variable snow depths, non-supportive base and lurking crevasses and boulders.

 

Sean Isaac

Assistant Alpine Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary issued Oct. 4th, 2007

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 4th, 2007

 

We have fairly limited observations from the past few days, but they all point to the same thing. Like it or not, winter has begun everywhere above 2500m and even lower in some places. As of yesterday afternoon there was over 100cms of snow at 2000m on Mt. Mackenzie above Revelstoke. This morning in Glacier Park there was 40 cms at Fidelity station (1905m) and slush on the highway at the summit of Rogers Pass. Remotely triggered windslabs 4 days ago and recent windslabs up to 200cms thick reported out of the Asulkan Hut. Snow fell at the Bugaboos parking lot. In the Rockies, avalanches up to size 2.5 were observed running off rock slabs in the front ranges and there is snow on the ground at 2000m's at Lake O'Hara. It is 2c and snowing fairly briskly at 6pm in Canmore so I think it is not too much of a stretch to say climbing conditions are terrible "almost" everywhere at the moment. There has been a little less snowfall at the Columbia Icefields and guides have been climbing there successfully but carefully in the last couple of days. One large loose snow avalanche ran off the Silverhorn on Athabasca.

 

There may be some icy dribbles somewhere that may offer some sporty early season ice climbing. Keep in mind that these icicles are probably just barely stuck to rock that was warm fairly recently. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the climbable ice is very likely at an elevation and in terrain where the avalanche danger should be assumed to be unacceptably high for the next couple of days at least. In the short term, I would only consider climbing ice where I can CLEARLY see all the terrain above the route is mostly snowfree. I have no idea where this place would be, but good luck if you find it. 

 

Please keep in mind that the avalanche forecasting situation in early october is very different from midwinter when the Canadian Avalanche Center has daily observations from hundreds of proffesionals working all over the ranges. We have a handful of observations from scattered locations but they are all from proffesional guides and with the exception of the Columbia Icefields, they all say "Bad". 

 

Obviously, skiing is a consideration with all that fresh snow. Again, it should be assumed that the avalanche danger is high and skier triggered avalanches are very possible. All the usual early season caveats about skiing over poorly covered rocks, stumps and alders apply. Now think about how ugly it would be going for a ride in an avalanche over all that junk.

 

Glaciers are nice and white now. Those huge crevasses left open at the end of the summer have anywhere from 50-200cms of unconsolidated new snow over them. Enough to completely camouflague them while offering no bridging strength whatsoever. A probe would be useful as it should still be easy to feel the crevasses. If you can easily feel the crevasses, I bet they can easily feel you. A rope, used well, with a rescue savvy team, would be even more useful as it is perfect conditions for an unexpected crevasse fall.

 

Hey, how about just staying home?  

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Rogers Pass/Asulkan Hut

With Thompson Rivers University, Adventure Programs

We left the trailhead at the Illecillewaet Campground in heavy rain on
09/28 and reached the snow-line at 1700m. 40cm of moist snow at the
Asulkan Hut at 2100m.

The next days travel on the Asulkan glacier towards the Asulkan Pass we
waded through 70cm of increasingly lower density snow the higher we
went. Trail breaking and crevasse detection was time consuming. Slab
development was prevalent around 2300m in the lee of most ridge lines.
We remotely triggered a small slab 20m wide 25m long and about 40cm in
depth. Also visible that day were larger fracture lines on most aspects
above 2500m in elevation, mostly below steep cliffs.

The following 4 days were spent not far from the hut as substantial
snowfall amounts and strong southerly winds accumulated wind slabs
close to 200cm's in depth! (in lee areas). The snow had an up side down
feeling in density and once again travel was very time consuming.

We walked out this morning (10/04) under mostly clear skies and saw a
surprisingly small amount of natural avalanche activity. Snowfall
amounts as of this morning were quite variable because of the strong
winds of the week, but ranged from 20cm to 120cm at 2100m.

Aaron Beardmore
Mountain Guide

Jokull Bergman
Alpine 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.