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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued June 21st, 2007
At the solstice, the snowline is slowly creeping up
towards early june norms. Last weekends snow still lingers above 3000m's on
north facing terrain. Along the continental
divide there is still some snow in the shade, on lee slopes and in
avalanche deposits below 2200m's and snow is almost gauranteed above
2500m's. Reports from Jasper, Lake Louise and the Columbia
Icefields all indicate a deep snowpack up high and on lee slopes all
along the parkway. East of the divide the snow is almost all gone except in
gullies and old drifts. Pure snow and ice routes like Athabasca, Lefroy and Mt.
Fay could be in great shape in the early morning but mixed ridges like Victoria
and Edith Cavell would probably be still in poor winter
condition.
The Columbia mountains are in a similar state. In
the Bugaboos snowline is solidly around 2100m as of wednesday. All climbs in the
bugs require snow travel at present and lots of routes are still wet from last
weekend's snow and the winters melt. At Rogers Pass the situation is a
little more optimistic. The trail is mostly snow free to Hermit Meadows and
Tupper is probably mostly dry by this weekend. MacDonald west ridge is mostly
dry and the Herdman Couloir(Crossover slidepath) still has good snowcover
over the giant alders. Sir Donald still has snow on the upper 1/3 and the North
side of the ridge is probably still plastered.
There was suprisingly little avalanche activity
observed after last weekends storm but big wet afternoon avalanche cycles have
been observed on west and northwest slopes above 3000m's in the last two days.
For example, a wet avalanche on wednesday started on Mt. Huber's west
face and ran well over the Huber Ledges hiking trail.
Climbers could definetly trigger wet avalanches but
perhaps more significantly, there is still enough spring snow for isolated large
avalanches to run well below the snow line. There was one report of a large slab
avalanche in the past week on a north face up Woolley Ck.
Bare ice is starting to show on some glacial toes
and with more melt freeze cycles coming crampons are probably a good idea
anywhere in the alpine..
If the forecast is correct we may have a fine
weekend for some fast, well planned alpine travel. It is that same old
song- a cold, clear night-a good freeze-a very early start and being well
away from the big snow slopes before it gets ugly. Some technical alpine climbs may be possible but be very wary of all the
slush/rock that is just waiting for the summer heat to meet the spring
snowpack. Huge cornices are also still hanging over gullies like the
Andromeda Strain and Grand Central Couloir.
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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