Waddington NW summit via Dais Gl.
July 31st - Aug 8th, 2005.
Coverage on the Dais Gl. remains good as low as 2500m. With good overnight
recovery travel remains descent till approx 1100am, after which the crust
carries with variable success. By mid afternoon, on S and E aspects,
expect to be breaking through this crust and sinking to your hips in large
granular wet snow.
Dais couloir is still well filled this season compared to previous.
Schrund at base of couloir easily passed L or R. Expect the couloir, with
clear skies overnight, to be bullet proof early AM. Day time temps never
penetrated fully through the 25cm crust, but be aware there is a meter
plus of large wet granular snow, and largely useless for anchors in AM
or PM. lots of horns in rock lateral. Boot top pen except for last 150m+
in the PM. Could be a scary place without overnight recovery.
We experenced minimal rock fall into couloir but the rocks above and
lateral are in the sun by 0730 and the couloir proper by 0900. Be aware
that the considerable rimming so common to the S face of Waddington takes
a few days to clear, post storm.
Still very wintery on the Angle 2800m and above. Day time temps held below
freezing. The most recent storm, July 30-31st, came in cold and left
60-80cm new. The Height of new snow seems to have settled well except for
the bottom 10-15cm which cold ,low density and sitting on a very hard old
surfaces. The storm produced considerable slab activity (N to NW
aspects). Most, but not all slopes running during the storm, with many
slopes reloaded. Things seemed to have tightened up a few days after the
storm, but be aware if the daytime temps begin to climb?
The schrund from the NW ridge onto the Angle GL. crosses nicely in
numerous spots.
The remaining cornices on the N ridge are massive and still pose a
considerable threat to the bottom two thirds of the Angle GL. The icefalls
at the base of the angle above the schrund crossing off the NW ridge also
posses a considerable threat, not a good place to do brunch. Most slots
still well bridged. Summit schrund still crosses nicely numerous places
just W of summit.
Keith Reid
|