[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Coastal Mountains issued May 27, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Coastal Mountains issued May 27, 2011 ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the South Coast Mountains issued may 27, 2011 The weather conditions remain unsettled through the coming weekend with a drying trend forecast sometime next week. Deep snowpack conditions linger alpine areas of the outer coast and Vancouver Island areas, with the snowpack tapering dramatically towards the east side of the ranges. Freezing levels are fluctuating daily, with snow falling as low as 1200m yesterday in the Cascades and Pemberton areas. With overnight breaks in the cloud cover, the snow in open areas will provide good step kicking in the morning hours, with snow turning isothermal by late morning. Recently, ski touring in the Cascades has been good for travelling, however lots of looming cornices, and storm snow is evident on the peaks. In the South Coast Mountain's I expect the conditions are similar, with periodic snowfall down into the tree-line and some storm snow remaining in alpine areas. A South aspect slab avalanche high up on Mt Birkenhead was visible from way down in the valley bottom in Birken! In the Coquihalla, Yak Pk has had some recent snow slabs gliding off rock slabs, with plenty of remaining hang-fire! If the forecasted warmer weather arrives next week, there is bound to an increase in snow avalanches and rock falls, consider that cornice falls and wet snow avalanches may run down well into the tree-line. I expect that the recent storm snow on the glaciers will disguise crevasses bridges. The local creeks and rivers are high and will continue to rise for a while yet. Paul Berntsen ACMG/IFMGA 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] Rockies: A2, Mt Athabasca and Mt Wilcox

My fellow guide, Erica Roles, and I guided out of the Columbia Icefields Campground May 20 -25. The first couple of days were spent instructing at Parker's Ridge, we punched a trail up to the practice slopes and gulley. The snow above treeline was carrying well.

May 22nd we climbed A2 via the North Little Athabasca Glacier tongue, Athabasca/Boundary Col and upper Boundary Glacier. Given the clear skies overnight and good freeze travel was dreamy, perfect cramponing on the frozen surface right up to 9,700 feet where the snow started to feel a bit wintery still on the north aspect (that bit of information steered us away from the Ramp route on Athabasca suspecting a wind slab there).

May 24th we climbed Mt Athabasca via the AA Col route with a marginal overnight freeze. The snow carried very well, boot top penetration all the way up and down. We didn't use crampons.

There has been a very large serac collapse across the north face basin of Athabasca and there looks like there is more to come having looked down on some BIG cracks in the hanging Silverhorn Glacier.

May 25th we climbed the south ridge of Mt Wilcox and this was the most problematic ascent of our week due to the amount of snow that is still sitting in Wilcox Pass. We persisted linking bare ground with supportive snow.

Relieved to say that summer mountaineering is doing well at the Icefields, exceptionally so given a good freeze.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

www.barryblanchard.ca

www.yamnuska.com

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures Snow and Ice Long Weekend groups, May 22.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued may 26, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued may 26, 2011 A grey, soggy ass day in the Rockies and Columbia Mountains but the weekend forecasts are looking pretty good. Presently, light rain, not snow falling as high as the summit of Ha Ling. >From the limited observations available, it seems to have been a cool week in the mountains with little change in conditions. Freezing levels along the Rockies Divide hovered around 2800m. In the Columbia Mountains snow still down to the bottom of the Asulkan trailhead. Lots of logging roads into the interior will still be snow covered. No reports from the bugaboos but if the road is open, I imagine the trail will still be a bit of an avalanche threatened ski tour. One large wet avalanche came out of the big avalanche path(Herdman Couloir) west of the North Face of Mt. MacDonald(just east of the Rogers Pass summit) and ran well onto the fan in the past few days. This may have been triggered by a big cornice fall. The main avalanche concerns are these kind of big wet events triggered by daytime heating, intense rain or large triggers like cornices failing, again, with the daytime heating. A bit of snow may fall before the weekend so small slabs are a possibility in the alpine this weekend. If we get a clear night and some good freezes conditions could get excellent in a hurry. Timing will be everything, have a good poke with a probe or something to see if the whole depth of the snowpack is frozen. If it is, get after something and be off before the daytime heating changes things. Lake travel is probably a bad idea as the ice in most alpine lakes is soaked and falling apart. Easy to fall through the ice and really hard to get out of it. Rivers are coming up. Meltwater running under the snowpack is probably just starting to be a concern in some gullies. As I said last week, the bears are out and are mostly foraging in the low elevations. Some south facing alpine rock routes could dry out but anything north facing will be snow plastered for a long time yet. Hiking anywhere above treeline or close to the divide will be like ski touring without skis for awhile yet. If we do get a heat wave, avalanches can and will run well below treeline in a few places. Larry Stanier ACMG/IFMGA 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] Columbia Icefields Area.

Hello all,
 
Spent the long weekend working and climbing out of the Columbia Icefields area with fellow Yamnuska Guide, Stevie B. Just a few obs we put together over the three days we we're there.  
 
Lot's of snow at Parkers Ridge. The zone around "the" windscoop was a great place for us to play around with crevasse rescue, snow anchors, and self arrest. Probably will be for a while yet as there's still a ton of snow hanging around for this time of year. 
 
Sunday and Monday we spend just below Boundary Peak. Plenty of ice showing through on the climbers left on the tongue of the North Glacier, great for cramponing practice with our crew. The tongue still had the usual strip of snow up the middle of it which made for easy/supportive step kicking to access the glacier above. Snow depth on the way up to Boundary Col was variable but on average between 1.5 and 2 meters, average boot pen in the mornings around 15cm's . 
Reasonable travel Saturday and Sunday on the glacier thanks to the previous few nights of cold temps that seemed to linger a bit in the snow. Unfortunately quickly deteriorating though, with overnight low's of +5C both nights we were there, along with about 5mm or so of rain to summit Sunday night.
 
We'd hoped to have a go at Athabasca on Monday but decided it best to blow off that plan with the warm temps, rain, whiteout visibility, and numerous wet avalanches we could hear locally through the murk at 2am Monday morning. Boundary Peak was a great option for us given conditions. 
 
Even despite the Scottish-like weather we we being basted with monday morning, we got some absolutely amazing views as the clouds seemed to part for us just as we arrived at the summit of Boundary around 8am. A layer in the cloud right around 2500m gave us unbelievable views for the half hour or so we hung around on the top taking photos. Beautiful!
 
There's a few more friends of ours up there working at the moment as well, so if your interested keep your eyes out as I'd imagine they'll have an update to this toward the end of the week.
 
Have fun out there! 
 
Mike
 
 
Mike Trehearne
Assistant Guide.
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
m_trehearne@hotmail.com

[MCR] Oedipus Complex, Cascade Mountain May 23

Climbed Oedipus Complex (5.10c) on Mothers Day Buttress with a friend (an assistant rock guide mentoring day) on May 23.

There was some questionable rock quality, with lots of large hollow sounding blocks in the corner system. The final pitch was weeping a bit, and looked like it had some more loose blocks, with the belay located right below the climbing line with nowhere to hide. So we rappelled from the top of pitch 3. We left new rappel sling at the top of pitch 3 and pitch 1.

The 5.10c moves on pitch 2 are well protected by bolts and offer very good climbing.

Tick season is here, I brought one of the nasty critters home.

Jordy Shepherd
ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.PeakAlpine.com

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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] Rockies: Lake Louise ski traverse

Yesterday (Saturday) Conrad and I did another great ski traverse:

Lake O'Hara parking - Narao Shoulder - Pope's Col - Plain of 6
Glaciers - Mitre Col - Paradise Valley - Wasatch Pass - Moraine Lake
- Consolation Pass - Boom Lake. I'd be surprised if these cols
haven't been linked before but I haven't heard of anyone doing it
before. Perhaps the most scenic short traverse I've done.

Conditions were not a surprise. The steep, southerly cliffs and faces
were shedding snow and cornices regularly, starting in the late
morning and going into the early evening, running to the bottom of
the fans. We didn't want to be anywhere near these features after
about 11.30 am. We were avoiding overhead hazard that consisted of
steep sun exposed cliffs and cornices. The steep south facing gully
descent from Mitre Col to Paradise valley was just starting to fall
apart at 11.30 am and we wouldn't have wanted to have been there any
later.

There have been a few full depth wet slab releases on south and west
aspects recently, to size 3.

On more moderate terrain the snow became moist or wet by late morning
right to ridgetop on all aspects but overall the snow was reasonably
stable. Easy tracksetting on soft crusts most of the day at all
elevations although we used ski crampons in a few spots in the morning.

The lakes are poor travel now with ankle deep slush over firm ice
slowing things down. A bit tiring at 9 pm on Boom Lake - hour 16 and
km 35...

Conrad Janzen & Mark Klassen
Mountain Guides
story and photos: www.facebook.com/alpinism (no account/password
required)
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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] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued May 19, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued May 19, 2011 This is the first ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the 2011 season. The Canadian Avalanche Centre is putting out what is probably it's last bulletin for the season today. This first summary will focus mainly on travelling conditions so please reference the CAC bulletin for current avalanche and snowpack conditions. It can be viewed at www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/latest Spring has arrived in the Rockies and Columbias but it feels more like late april than mid may. In the Columbia mountains and along the Rockies Divide, snow is still to be found as low as 1200m and people are still skiing to the valley in Rogers Pass. Forecasting mountain travel conditions in general is pretty straightforward for the time being. If it doesn't freeze overnight, skiing and walking could be miserable. With a good freeze and no recent snowfalls you should be able to go almost anywhere that holds snow. Crevasse bridges are starting to sag after all this warmth so warm weather whiteout navigation on the icefields will be even less fun than usual. Rivers are still relatively low but the creeks are coming up and the snowbridge creek crossings are getting skinnier and weaker. Bears are coming out and are probably pretty limited as to where they can get food by all the snow. It is raining moderately hard in Canmore right now(noon) but no snowline in sight. Front ranges rock routes are mostly snow free except the real high north faces. Snow is likely to be encountered on north slopes like the back of yamnuska. Waterfall ice climbing is of course almost done. Anywhere with daggers overhead is a really bad idea at this time of year but psycho keeners could probably still find some sheltered places in the dry ranges if they really need a last fix. Alpine climbing could be awesome when things cool down but I would guess it will be nasty while it is grey and warm. Sometime in the future(June?), if and when it warms up to real spring temperatures we may have another BIG avalanche and cornice fall cycle. For now the snow is just sitting there, like an uninvited guest on your couch:) Larry Stanier ACMG/IFMGA 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.