[MCR] Athabasca AA Col / Icefields

I just spent the past couple of days guiding in the Columbia Icefields.

Sunday -- Athabasca via AA Col - about 10 cm new snow with strong SW winds
throughout the day. This brings the total storm snow to 12-15 cm since
Friday. Good travel. The schrund is easily crossed but still thinly
bridged, and we belayed over it going up and down (good ice screws with a
little digging). Storm snow was bonding well to the old surface -- the
moist snow Jordy described in his last post is now a frozen/facetted
breakable temperature crust under the storm snow that made for good steps
approaching the col and good, secure plunge stepping descending.
Windloading and some cracking in the storm snow at ridgetops. Lots of
sluffing could be heard throughout the day from Andromeda's gullies. +5 C
at the trailhead at 5:45am, freezing level at about 2800m, cooling off
towards evening. Strong downflow winds noted as we descended.

Monday -- Wilcox Pk - Cold, clear night, -2C at the campground at 5am and
a dusting of new snow to valley bottom. This made for slippery hiking this
morning. Things melted fairly quickly when the sun finally came out
mid-morning and by the early afternoon the rock was mostly dry. Still
moderate to strong SW winds as well as some sluffing off of Snowdome and
Andromeda's N faces. Cold with a mix of sun and cloud throughout the day.
3C at the campground at 2pm but felt warm in sheltered areas in the sun.

Regards,
Tom Wolfe
ACMG AAG/ASG
_______________________________________________
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] Lake O'Hara

0 degrees celsius, calm and 2cms snow overnight at 2000m around Lake O'Hara. Peaks are snowcovered from 2500m up but nothing looks really plastered except the big slopes like Lefroy, Glacier and the West face of Hungabee. Grassi ridge is still dry. No signs of any recent avalanche activity visible but it was a bit cloudy and grey for really confident observations. No really fat water ice anywhere in sight but lots of thin dribbles everywhere above 2800m.

 

Conditions around Lake Louise appear to be similar.

 

Buses have stopped running so if you like a long walk it could be a wonderful wilderness experience at O'Hara by wednesday when the lodge is completely shut down.

 

Larry Stanier

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

laristan@telus.net

[MCR] Icefields Conditions October 1-3

Myself and four other mountain guides were at the Columbia Icefields for the past 3 days with a large group of university students.  In addition to practicing on the North Glacier of Athabasca, we climbed A2 (via the Boundary Glacier) and Athabasca (via the AA Col).  Travel conditions were excellent.  Above 2600m there is 10-30 cm of newer snow over a carrying crust, and a further 30 cm of snow to the summer ice.  The latest snow is generally moist due to this week’s warm temps, and it is bonding well to the crust, but we still avoided the ‘Normal’ ramp route on Athabasca in light of the recent natural and older climber triggered activity on the ramp.  Plus 6 degrees most mornings at the Icefields campground meant not much of a freeze up high, but still good travel conditions.  No new avalanche activity, however there was a number of large serac falls from the south sides of Andromeda and Snowdome. 

 

We wore crampons from the AA Glacier to the summit of Athabasca, with rain turning to snow and poor visibility on Oct 3^rd.  Good steps in the snow gullies leading to the Athabasca side of the AA Col, and no slab formation noted.  We found good ice for anchors under about 40 cm of snow when descending from the AA Col.

 

Jordy Shepherd

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Rockies: Narao

Up the lefthand Narao gully today. Below 2700 m conditions are mostly hard summer neve, above that elevation there is about 35 cm of recent snow overlying the neve. This new snow was held together by a few thin crusts on this NE aspect, with some hot temps this snow would fall apart quite rapidly. Although it was warmer than we hoped (minimal overnight freeze) it seemed cold enough with no rockfall or avalanches noted.

From below, this gully looks like it has a rockband in the middle but one can connect the couloir the entire way via a hidden finger of snow.

A fun 2 hour climb with a 3 hour approach and a 4 hour descent!

Erica Roles

Asst Rock Guide

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary issued October 2nd , 2008

ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 2nd, 2008

 

It has been a lovely week in the Mountains. The warm weather has helped settle the snow a bit in most places, but winter still rules above 3000m's.

 

Glacier travel is mostly pretty good but as is often the case in the fall, crevasse are poorly bridged and may be difficult to read, especially in shady places.

 

Rock climbing is still good on the east slope of the Rockies and lower elevations in the Columbias. Above 2800m expect snow anywhere shady and maybe some verglas after the heat wave.

 

Alpine ice could be coming around quite nicely. Cooler temps for the weekend could help tighten up some of the water ice and keep the rockfall fairly quiet. 

 

Classic alpine routes such as Victoria, Sir Donald, Edith Cavell and everything in the Bugaboos would take a fairly solid and speedy team to do them comfortably in a day. The snow will slow people down and the days are getting mighty short. It would be a long cold night in an unplanned bivy in early October.

 

Larry Stanier

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide

[MCR] Coast-Selkirks-Rockies

Drove back from the coast over the past couple of days. We climbed Yak Peak on a hot day Sunday and it was all dry even though there was a spot of snow on the summit of Whistler Mountain the day before. The Selkirks are looking drier than I would have thought although the north aspects are quite snowy down to glacier level, but Tupper is totally dry and the Rogers/Swiss Peaks area looks good too, Uto looks climbable with some snow on the ledges and even Sir D almost looks climbable but I wouldn't bother with that one. The Rockies are also looking pretty dry on the south aspects and fairly snowy on the norths. Certainly things like Castle are dry.

This could all change of course if the forecast holds true: the coast is supposed to get hammered later this week, with rain also in the Selkirks and showers in the Rockies. So get out there in the next day or so!

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Mt Athabasca size 2 avalanche standard route ramp

Mt Athabasca standard route ramp size 2 avalanche, ~30-50cm crown,
occurred today @ approximately 1300hrs. Roughly same dimensions as the
avalanche that occurred on August 28 (see MCR report Aug 28 and 29 -2
fatal) except for running a little further along the flats. A few
parties in the area and everyone accounted for.

FYI

Garth Lemke
ACMG assistant ski 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.