[MCR] Assiniboine & Temple

Subject: [MCR] Assiniboine & Temple
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:32:53 -0600
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