West Coast Mountain Conditions ? June 22, 2006
Summer is finally arriving on the south coast. Time to dust off the
crampons and ice axes. But first here are a few things to consider?
Weather over the past few weeks has seen a series of brief intense showers
and broken sky?s with the odd very intense rain event. The freezing level
has been sitting around 7000?, with about 10cm of new snow in the upper
alpine.
Sunday night (June 18th) stands as the first good coastal freeze of the
season. Presently, with these overnight freezes the snowpack carries well
in the AM but breaks down rapidly midday and more resembles the previous
weeks travel conditions, with boot top or more foot penetration in a wet
grained unconsolidated upper snowpack.
Wet loose-snow avalanches have been frequent on steep terrain, all
aspects, over the past couple of weeks. These sluffs can easily and
rapidly entrain enough mass to knock a climber off there feet and into or
over very hazardous terrain. Be cautioned that this early in the season
even a good overnight freeze will breakdown rapidly on steep solar
affected terrain, a condition further exacerbated by the new snow from
last week storms. This effect is especially true on snow slopes where
there is an abundant amount of exposed rock to further heat the snowpack.
There have been a few reports of recent deep slab releases (some to
ground), triggered by cornice failures. These are mostly 1-2 weeks old
now, but there is still some lingering cornice hazard. Keep your heads up.
Snow coverage on glaciated terrain is reported to be better in all regions
then has been seen over the past few years (for this time of year),
especially as you move North through the Coast Range. Presently, crevasses
are well bridged and travel less complex
Expect to find plenty of moisture in seams and cracks on most alpine rock,
the product of the wet weather of recent. A more enduring affect, this
season in particular, will be the melting affect on routes with features
that tend to hold snow on ledges and gullies.
In terms of access, Snow line remains just below 5000?. A meter plus of
snow was recently reported at the Keith Flavelle Hut at 5500?. Safe to
say that river and creek crossings will be challenging with the available
snow and rising temps.
Clear sky?s are forecast to dominate the mountains by Friday AM and
continue through the weekend and into next week. Freezing levels are
expected to climb to 4000m by Sunday. A few things to keep in mind with
this forecasted midday heating are, first, all aspects especially steep
solar exposed aspects will continue to be prone to wet slides. Snow
travel quality will rapidly diminish mid day. Expect more sagging and
collapsed snow bridges on glaciers in the coming days. Be cautious of the
threat posed by the many large cornices which linger from the past winter.
Happy Climbing!
Keith Reid, Mountain Guide
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