Mt. Columbia/Castleguard May 13-15
(See MCR post ?Icefields Conditions? for more conditions info)
*Pictures courtesy of Nick Rapaich. Warning; pics give a foreshortened view.
Myself and a group of 5 including aspirant extraordinaire, Nick Rapaich,
skied up the Saskatchewan glacier, climbed Mt. Columbia and skied to the
summit of Castleguard.
Saturday; From big bend, no skiable snow on approach to glacier (bring
hiking shoes). @ alluvial flats stay left and gain treed terraces/trail for
easier traveling. @ the moraine lake go around its right side. Skied up
Saskatchewan gl, camped at 2640m, 15 clicks from big bend pullout.
1900-2200m; From Sunday to present there was a dramatic melting of snow and
weakening of bridges from the toe to about 2200m. Crevaces covered on
Saturday were like surfacing dolphins by Monday. Isothermal below 2100.
2600m and above had over 4 meter snowpack with strong bridges, no visible
sags or crevaces in compression zones, only the big gapers visible.
Sunday; skied up and down and up the trench to the base of mighty C. Some
double penetration trail breaking with p.m. heating. Above 3000m is 10-15 cm
of settled storm snow overlying 20-35cm of denser snow on top of a 3-4 cm
melt-freeze/windcrust depending on aspect that is well bonded with settled
snow below. On wind affected slopes, especially the SE cross loaded slope
lookers right of the S ridge, a soft slab has formed with a poor bond above
the crust.
From base, the East Face rib like feature looked inviting. I saw what looked
like a diagonal cross loaded pillow en-route 2/3 up the face (appears in
picture as a stark white pillow on upper face). That, with limited snowpack
obs and the rather large real-estate over head decided me on the South
Ridge. Gained the ridge and skied to the base of the rock step. @ 3460 quick
hand shears showed easy results. Further investigation revealed the soft
slab instability 30-40 down (see summary below). Good plan not to be on the
East face eh! Staying high and close to ridge rocks, scrambling up a rocky
gully feature and rocky snow slopes gains the summit ridge. Good steps can
be made, good short roping stances and over the ridge counter balance
belays. On summit ridge now, from 10 meters, remotely triggered a small soft
slab from ridge, 15- 35cm deep by 10 meters across. Further up the ridge
triggered another remote that propagated below and ahead of me to almost
ridgetop 10-40cm deep x >150 meters wide this time to size 1.5. Definitely
would knock a person off. The crux is the hundred meters or so between 3550
and 3650 meters requiring steeper gully feature snow climbing, sometimes
hoping over the ridge to belay and careful management of threading a safe
line between the South East slopes slab and summit ridge cornices. There is
one small double cornice on way to summit. Overall the cornices were quite
manageable. Though there was no new avalanche activity other than p.m. solar
aspect sloughs. When we came down, our tracks were filled in. I suspect the
slab will fill in and re-build with observed snow transport shortly.
Instabilities in the high alpine especially on wind-affected features remain
an important hazard. From the top of the province, I am happy to report
everything is looking good, the views were spectacular on this blue bird
day; Twins, Bryce, Clemenceau, the Rocky Mountain Range, what a treat and no
one else around!?
Monday; in complete contrast to Mt. Columbia, the North East Face of
Castleguard was in excellent condition. Benefiting from its lower, warmer
elevation (compared to Columbia) more North aspect, and less wind effect,
the snow here was well settled and tests showed no results. I felt
comfortable setting a track across steeper slopes to gain the east ridge,
then skiing the face itself. A fun summit and a great way to come off the
Saskatchewan Glacier with good downhill skiing. Intense solar radiation on
the way out. Widespread Snowballing and sloughing, isothermal below 2100. I
witnessed continual serac activity in vicinity drainages with daytime
heating. Glad we did not have to ski out the Athabasca Gl. in the afternoon!
If ya know the lingo;
Conditions: 1880-3700, Clear, L ?12, H 12, L-Moderate SW, Nil, ridgeblo- M,
snpk@2600>4.5cm.
Mt. Columbia @ 3460M Test 70dn; SE, 30 deg, CTE 8 CTM 13 SP 35dn 1F on P-.
(SSL on wind crust), NR below. Castleguard @ about 2900M NE, 32 deg, STN.
Iso Wumfing on glacial flats above 2800m. Aval obs; Mt. Columbia 05/14 sz .5
Sr SSL 35deg SE approx 3550, sz 1.5 Sr SSL 35deg SE approx 3600 35cm dn by
<150m.
Eric Dumerac
Rocky Mountain Vertical
ACMG Assistant Ski/Alpine Guide, CAA Level II, CSIA Level II Ski Instructor.
Long time ski tourer, pioneering alpinist, rock, ice, and mixed climber at
your service.
403-609-2965 Canmore AB.
Mt. Columbia.jpg
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Col.ridge.jpg
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Fracture pic.jpg
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On Ridge.JPG
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Skiing Castleguard.jpg
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Mt. Bryce.jpg
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Alluvial flats.jpg
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