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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued September 6th, 2007.
Conditions in the alpine have been generally
good in the past week throughout the Rockies and Columbias. There was
scattered light precipitation in many areas on the night of the 5th. With
the forecasted cool temperatures, you should expect some snowcovered rock up high and
perhaps some verglas at and just below the snow line.
There is possibly just enough snow for isolated
small windslabs along the divide in the Rockies on lee slopes above
3000m's. As always, be aware of the consequences of being knocked off your feet
if you are in new snow.
Glacier travel conditions remain good, but the new
snow will make judging crevasses a little trickier at high elevations. An
interesting report from the guides at CMH Bugaboos that some of the
thinner, high elevation snow bridges are actually starting to rot(facet?)and
lose strength. With the still shallow snowcover, probing is still the
quickest and most effective tool for finding crevasses and avoiding walking on
air.
The temperatures are perhaps cool enough for some
of the big mixed alpine gullies and faces but there is a definite alpine
water-ice drought going on. Travelling over Wenkchemna and Opabin passes
yesterday I saw only scattered bits of water ice and lots of bare choss in
the bowls that feed the gullies. I would assume the situation is similar at the
Columbia Icefields. This will not change until we get some signifigant
precipitation and a decent melt-freeze. This melt/freeze gets a little less
likely each day as we march through september. Hmm.
It looks like a good weekend for classic
mountaineering and sun warmed rock. Pack your woolies and keep your eyes
wide open and your feet on the ground.
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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