This is a Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the South Coast
Mountains region (From Vancouver to Bella Coola). Below is a 7 days
summary, as well as an outlook for the next 7 days. This was compiled on June
29th, 2006.
7 Day
Summary
The last week?s hot weather is marking a transition between late spring
and early summer. The snow pack is very rapidly melting and compacting
into an early summer pack.
Temperatures:
During the warmest period this week freezing levels reached
4000m and the treeline temperatures peaked in the low 20?s.
The snow line varies with the lowest and most
snow being close to the ocean and then less snow inland. On average the snow
line seems to be around treeline ? 1400- 1700 metres - depending on aspect.
Expect to encounter snow patches a few hundred meters below treeline anywhere
but on the southern aspects; here the sun has melted most of the snow in rocky
terrain up to about 2000m.
-One report from Vancouver Island had the snow line at
around 900 ? 1000 meters, with a ?fat? snow pack of 2 meters at 1200m.
-Whistler Mountain has no snow left on their winter Pig Alley plot at
1535m. But on the glaciers above there is an average of two ? three meters of
snow.
-In the Callaghan Valley there is 2.5 m covering the flat valley floor
at 1350 meters.
-In contrast to all this- just NE of Hope, in the Anderson River area,
a report mentions only snow patches high up and under rock faces.
Glaciers are still well covered but crevassed
areas almost everywhere are starting to show prominent sags. You can bet that
with the hot temperatures the crevasse roofs are becoming soft and fragile.
Many slots are just starting to open. Areas that normally have a thin winter
snow pack are in, some cases, melting away to expose crevasses and blue
ice.
Avalanches:
It seems the late spring deep slab climax avalanche cycle ended a
while back. The cornices have mostly fallen off but beware of the odd cornice
perched and just waiting for a little more heat and melting which
will loosen the bonds and drop load. The warm temperatures have created
sluffs during the heat of the day on all aspect.
Rock Fall: Only one fairly large rock fall was
reported (on the Blackcomb
Glacier) but one can assume lots more has happened in the last
week.
General travel Conditions: The snow was quite soft almost all day
during the most intense part of the heat wave this past week. During this period any nighttime crust
melted away by 9am and resulted in 20cm of isothermal wet mush. Sloppy conditions for walking! However reports of steeper faces
sluffing to glacier ice might be of interest to those wishing a clean steeper
climb. The rock ridges and
buttresses on south facing aspects looks dry and quite good for climbing.
A MCR posted on June 23rd shows photos of
the mountains in the Duffy Lake area ? expect a fair bit of snow melt since
then.
Many of the summer only maintained roads are passable. The Hurley Pass
road was ploughed a few weeks ago. In the valleys during the height of the
heat wave the creeks and rivers where running high and fast.
Outlook:
Weather Forecast: Environment Canada calls for
continued warm tempratures for its 5 day forecast; all due to the high
pressure that is maintaining warm temps and light winds. Freezing levels are forecast to be
around 3200 m ? 4100m (warmest days are late in the weekend).
One thing to note: The UV index is 10+ (or Very High) in the
alpine. This is a bit above
normal and sunburns happen surprisingly fast.
Mountain Travel: Expect conditions to very similar
to the above summary as long as the weather stays warm and dry. Another spell
of even hotter temps predicted for the weekend should make for fine mountain
travel conditions. But bear in mind that the warm
conditions will break down nighttime crusts quickly in the AM. We are still in
a transition of seasons and all that melting snow = above average
rockfall/sluff/cornice fall/ avalanche hazards. If your
traveling on glaciers look out for sags and crevasses especially in areas with
a thin snowpack. Take lots of water if you are climbing in
Squamish!
The information for this summary was gathered from the Whistler ? Duffy
Lake, Van Island, and Hope areas.
Keep in mind that conditions at higher elevations, such as in the
Waddington Range will be different ? likely cooler and more spring
like.
Have a great Canada Day Long weekend. Play safe and have fun.
Dave Sarkany
Ski Guide