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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued June 14th, 2007.
It feels like summer in the valleys but I was ski
touring without skiis above 2000m in the shade at Lake OHara today. Along
the divide in the Rockies, southerly facing open terrain is mostly snowfree
to approx.2300m. In the forest and on northerly terrain there is still a
significant snowpack above 2000m.
It was mostly sunny at OHara today and we
saw LOTS of BIG loose snow avalanches. East aspects started running around noon
and north and west aspects started around 2pm and ran till at least
6pm. Avalanches were mostly starting around 3000m and running to as low as
2100m. I saw 5 avalanches big
enough to bury me and all my friends today.
The past 3 nights have been cool with below
freezing temperatures at 2350m at Parkers Ridge. The overnight freeze at OHara
was just barely enough to make travel excellent up and down Mt Schaeffer
today. It could be worth trying to get into
the alpine along the divide this weekend for some low angle objectives. However,
the latest weather forecast for most mountain regions is unfortunately a
bit on the warm and moist side. I would strongly recommend you pay
attention to the overnight skies and temperatures and have a good plan B for a
night with a poor freeze or if anything more than a sprinkle of rain happens.
Intense radiation or a good rain event to 3000m could trigger another big
wet snow avalanche cycle. Stay well away from big snow and ice faces unless
we have an excellent overnight freeze and you are moving really
fast. Snowcover on the glaciers is still
excellent. Cornices are still large above 2500m but have probably seen lots of
melting below that elevation.
East of the divide conditions have again improved a
great deal in the past week. Most east slope classics are in great shape or
are at least more wet than snowy at present.
Rivers and creeks are still high and running water
under snowpatches remains a real hazard.
Technical alpine climbing is probably a really bad
idea for a while. The big faces are still slushy, gullies are generally in
poor shape, cornices are huge and rockfall is probably horrendous when the
melt is happening.
No reports were available from the Columbias
but you can assume reasonably similar conditions would be found in the alpine
there with perhaps more new snow in the past few days.
Finally, there have been a few large rockfall
events observed in the past weeks. I don't think the sky is falling but we
should at least take it as a reminder that it is always a good idea to
minimize the time we spend unsheltered under big cliffs. A helmet is a
great thing but only overhanging rock or perhaps a stand of mature trees is
protection against real rockfall.
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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