[MCR] ESE Ridge Mt Lady MacDonald

Eric Dumerac and I scrambled the the ESE Ridge of Mt Lady MacDonald today. Snow from the valley floor to the top, lots of damp rock and bare hands pressed into damp snow. Dry snow on the high eastern aspects, never deeper than 15 cms. Difficult conditions for this route, I'd call it more of a solo than a scramble right now. Good info on getting to the start of the route here at Everett Fee's webpage:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~efee/02_07_09-LadyMacEastRidge/

I would change this sentence in the above description to:

"When you come to these rock steps go left and down ~100 m to find obvious weaknesses"

to read 30 m

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

[MCR] MCR Summary - September 27

Mountain Conditions Summary – Rockies and Interior Ranges
Issued: Thursday, September 27, 2007

A cool and generally unstable past week of weather in the mountains, with a mix of blue sky, cloudy days and overnight lows down to -6 in Jasper.  Winter appears firmly entrenched in the high elevations now, with over half a meter of new snow deposited as of Monday (24th).  Not much additional snow since then - but no melting also.

Reports from the Bugaboos of 30-60 cm of settled snow on the glaciers, with most of the rock climbing now done for the year – perhaps there might be some hope for the low elevation south facing rocks to dry off, but that’s not a good bet.  Consider the place done for the season, unless you’re sharpening your tools.  Could the ice hose be forming?  

A flight through the Lake Louise area today confirmed the same thing, with lots of snow in the alpine and no apparent melting over the past week.  The best bet for any technical alpine climbing right now would be to hunt for ice runnels, which are just starting to form up in the gullies.  If the cold weather persists and we get another clear spell, then October might offer some interesting mixed possibilities.

Glacier travel ok in all areas with a settled snowcover to walk on, but the hunt for crevasses has become quite challenging. This is a tough time of year to navigate crevasses, when they become bridged enough to be hidden but not enough to support body weight. Keep alert for isolated pockets of windslab that form after fresh snow and wind.

The east side of the Rockies looks good and dry for rock climbing in the sun.  Yamnuska, EEOR and similar cliffs are dry – although north facing cliffs at the same elevation still hold snow.

The forecast for the next few days is poor.  For Friday, a rainfall warning is in effect for the western areas (Revelstoke), and rain/snow in store for areas as far east as Banff.  Saturday looks better, but still a mostly unstable weekend ahead. It’s a strong SW flow, and so the best bet for weather will be the eastern ranges, where it should be mostly dry and probably very windy.  Highs of 10-15 degrees expected.

Overall – not great conditions and not a great forecast either. I’ll call cragging, hiking or rock climbing on the leeward sides of the mountains as the best bet this weekend.

Grant Statham
Mountain Guide

[MCR] Bugaboo's

Was just in the Bugaboo's on an alpine course from September 21-24.
Precipitation throughout that period was quite consistent with snow
well down below the Kain hut level. Accumulations up to 60cm on the
upper Bugaboo glacier was observed, face shots would have been a
definite if we were on skis. Generally low density snow, however,
there was a weak layer, rimmed or graupel crystals lower down in the
storm snow that was producing large settlements and whumping that was
traveling long distances. No natural avalanches were observed. Wide
spread false bridging throughout glaciers, making it difficult to see
and negotiate crevasses.
The spires were plastered with snow and ice was running down all
over. By the 24th the south facing lower down faces, like the
McTech and Crescent towers areas were starting to dry off and might
possibly become climable again. The power at the hut was off for the
season due to the lack of water for the Hydro electric system and the
hut will be boarded up for the winter in a couple of days.
Time to head south.

Rich Marshall
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 Stanley

Carl Johnson and I climbed the Waterman Couloir on Mt Stanley yesterday. As mentioned in the mountain conditions summery yesterday the new snow on the glacier is doing a great job of hiding the crevasses but providing no new strength to the snow bridges. This makes for slow travel and lots of probing.

 

It was possible to pass the burgshrund on the right by climbing a mixed pitch which went through an ice tunnel. The couloir was good climbing with access to good ice screws through out.

 

By the time we reached the base of the couloir on our descent it was snowing heavily and approximately 10cm of snow had fallen. Sluffs where beginning to come down the couloir and winds had picked up. I would expect to find wind slabs in lee and cross loaded terrain features today.

 

Jesse de Montigny

ACMG Ski Guide

ACMG Assistant Alpine Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for sept.21st, 2007.

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued September 21st, 2007.

 

Summer is definetly over in the mountains. The Larches are yellow and it has been REALLY cold since wednesday am.

In the past 48 hrs at 2000m at Lake O'Hara it has not gone above 3 celcius and it has been tinkling snow above 2700m's almost continously. Yuck!!

 

Very little snow has actually accumulated. Perhaps 20 cms in the bugaboos and 10-15cms in the alpine along the Louise, Moraine, O"Hara divide. There were some winds today so it is possible there may be some windslabs above 3000m's.

 

Glacier travel has just gotten a little trickier with crevasses harder to read and bridges not at all stronger.

 

Climbing conditions are generally slippery and white and it will take a real warm spell to improve even souith facing rock above 3000m's.

 

There is some dribbles of water ice above 2800m's but there is still a drought in the bowls above most alpine ice routes. Hard to get excited about anything above treeline at this point. Perhaps a good book?

 

Larry Stanier

Mountain Guide

 

[MCR] Commander Mtn

Climbed Commander Mountain (3350m) west of Radium yesterday. We approached
from Farnham Creek and climbed the NE glacier to the S ridge (PD). The
glacier is quite broken, but we found a reasonable route. A good freeze
provided strong bridges which were still well frozen as of noon. Above 3000m
there is up to 10cm of recent storm snow (Sept 11 & 12) that has formed a
minor wind slab in isolated locations. The new snow is also beginning to
hide crevasses. Conditions were excellent, but a weather front on the
horizon will likely change that quickly.

Enjoy the last days of summer!

Jeremy Mackenzie
ACMG Ski Guide, Asst. Alpine Guide
26-640 Upper Lakeview Rd
Invermere BC V0A1K3
CANADA
250-342-5013
jeremymackenzie@hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail. Even hotter than before. Get a better look now.
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_______________________________________________
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] East Ridge of Temple, Sept 16, 2007

Up the East Ridge of Temple today with one guest and the route is still in great shape.  No snow or water on the rock.  Some snow is hanging around on ledges and lower angle terrain on N aspects.  Crampons were useful for the glacier at the top and travel was easy.  A meltfreeze crust on the surface of the glacier was keeping any recent snow in place.  Crevasses are becoming more difficult to see.  Trail down the SW side was nice and dry.    
 

Cheers, Conrad Janzen
Mountain Guide

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