[MCR] MCR Summary - September 27

Mountain Conditions Summary – Rockies and Interior Ranges
Issued: Thursday, September 27, 2007

A cool and generally unstable past week of weather in the mountains, with
a mix of blue sky, cloudy days and overnight lows down to -6 in Jasper. 
Winter appears firmly entrenched in the high elevations now, with over half
a meter of new snow deposited as of Monday (24th).  Not much additional snow
since then - but no melting also.

Reports from the Bugaboos of 30-60 cm of settled snow on the glaciers, with
most of the rock climbing now done for the year – perhaps there might be
some hope for the low elevation south facing rocks to dry off, but that’s
not a good bet.  Consider the place done for the season, unless you’re sharpening
your tools.  Could the ice hose be forming?  

A flight through the Lake Louise area today confirmed the same thing, with
lots of snow in the alpine and no apparent melting over the past week.  The
best bet for any technical alpine climbing right now would be to hunt for
ice runnels, which are just starting to form up in the gullies.  If the cold
weather persists and we get another clear spell, then October might offer
some interesting mixed possibilities.

Glacier travel ok in all areas with a settled snowcover to walk on, but the
hunt for crevasses has become quite challenging. This is a tough time of
year to navigate crevasses, when they become bridged enough to be hidden
but not enough to support body weight. Keep alert for isolated pockets of
windslab that form after fresh snow and wind.

The east side of the Rockies looks good and dry for rock climbing in the
sun.  Yamnuska, EEOR and similar cliffs are dry – although north facing cliffs
at the same elevation still hold snow.

The forecast for the next few days is poor.  For Friday, a rainfall warning
is in effect for the western areas (Revelstoke), and rain/snow in store for
areas as far east as Banff.  Saturday looks better, but still a mostly unstable
weekend ahead. It’s a strong SW flow, and so the best bet for weather will
be the eastern ranges, where it should be mostly dry and probably very windy. 
Highs of 10-15 degrees expected.

Overall – not great conditions and not a great forecast either. I’ll call
cragging, hiking or rock climbing on the leeward sides of the mountains as
the best bet this weekend.

Grant Statham
Mountain Guide



_______________________________________________
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continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable 
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information 
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions 
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
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