Climbed Assiniboine on Thursday Aug 10 under poor visability that never
saw the ceiling rise above the top of the 3rd class section below the
Black Band.
The N Ridge was completely snow & ice free and although the rock
was wet this did not detract from the friction on the mostly horizontal
edges.
Overnight the snowline dropped down to about 8800 ft. (just below the
Hind hut). The whole Assiniboine area was hit quite hard with
significant snowfall amounts. On Friday the temp at 1:30pm was only 7C
at the Lodge with on and off rain throughout the day which may have
meant more snow up high.
Sunday Aug 13 on the SW ridge of Temple it seemed the boot top snow
Mark had spoken of from Sat. had settled out to 10-15cm in drifted
areas only. These drifts were quite critical on the descent as
the ascent trail (last 600 ft. to summit) was getting hard and slick
with traffic and even icy in sections. Icy verglass had formed on the
rock slabs below snowline but this was avoidable with proper route
finding.
Cheers,
Shaun King
Asst. Alpine/Ski Guide
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