[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for May 17th, 2007.

Subject: [MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for May 17th, 2007.
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 21:29:51 -0600
ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountain issued May 17th, 2007
 
It may feel like summer in the valleys but it is still late winter above 2500m close to the divide. Generally the conditions and snowcover feels more like late april than mid may.  A picture is worth 1000 words and the wintry photos below were taken today in the Lake Louise area, courtesy of Marc Ledwidge of the Banff Warden Service.
 
There is still over 100cms of snow at Bow Summit, snow in shady spots at the Lake Louise crags and buried tent platforms at the Columbia Icefields campground. The road to the Bugaboos has avalanche deposits up to 10m deep as of last week and rumour is that it won't be plowed till early june. Lots of trails close to the divide are still buried. The snowpack is rarely freezing now on non-glaciated terrain so expect some serious postholing if you are breaking trail below treeline this weekend. Snowcover is excellent on the glaciers but there is probably more bare ice than usual in the high alpine given some of the big winds we had this winter.
 
There have been reports of good travel and climbing conditions in the alpine around Lake Louise, Rogers Pass and the Columbia Icefields area in the past week. These good conditions have been found almost completely on snow covered glaciated terrain and are mainly due to some cold, clear nights and people getting up and down things while the snowpack is frozen. There had been scattered avalanche activity in the daytime heat. This scenario changed dramatically today in the Lake Louise area. The snowpack did not recover any strength during last night's overcast skies.. A warm day brought on a large avalanche cycle in the LL area. A class 2.5 avalanche(possibly skier triggered) ran from Saddle Pass into the larch trees and a size 3 avalanche(possibly goat triggered-see photo)ran from below Suprise Pass well into the creek. Numerous large avalanche were observed on the south facing terrain off Mt. White and its neighbours. This is likely to continue in all areas this weekend given the generally grey, warm and rainy forecast for the mountain parks.  Without a good, solid freeze brought on by a cold clear night, backcountry travel, especially in avalanche terrain, would probably be a really bad idea
 
Alpine rock venues close to the divide like Mt. Louis, Castle mtn, the Colin range and most Rogers Pass classics would still involve some potentially scary swimming in deep snow and even Chinaman's peak would involve some snow manouvers to get to the base. Yamnuska and the Ghost are reasonable good bets if the rain stays away and most rivers seem fairly low for this time of year.
 
This is the first mountain conditions summary for the season and we will strive to put out weekly summaries till the Canadian Avalanche Centre starts reporting again in November. Thanks for tuning in.
 
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

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