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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued October 18th, 2007.
In the Rockies you should probably expect wind
hammered snow above 2500 m anywhere except south faces below 3000 m and
high north faces and lee slopes.
On wednesday, driving from Canmore to Abraham
Lake (David Thompson highway) and on a flight around the Upper Cline River
area I saw bits of climbable looking ice on most aspects above 2500 m.
The south faces were almost snow and ice free
till 3000+ m. No ice at the Kitty Hawk, Murchison
Falls elevations, Riptide is disconnected but Crowfoot Falls, for
example, looked climbable. You have to decide if it is worth the
approach and if the objective hazards are reasonable.
Lots of water-ice and snow on places like the East
Face of Howes pk-Yipes!!!
In the Columbia Mountains, perhaps the most
significant observations to mountain travellers were from the Selkirks and
Monashees. Recent avalanches of the full depth of the snowpack were
observed on both sides of the Columbia River north of Revelstoke. It would
be safe to assume they occured sometime during the recent rain events or under
the midday sun. Full depth, wet slab avalanches in snow covered
glades and gullies between 1700 and 2000 m would be my big nightmare right now.
Tell your hunter, logger and early season ski friends. If you find a
snowpack more than 50 cm deep in the Rockies and it is getting WARM and/or
raining I would be worrying about wet slides to ground there too. The
forecast makes it look like it may be cool so it may not be a problem for
this weekend. However, that is the forecast, keep your eyes open for what is
REALLY happening when you are in the mountains.
There may be isolated pockets of decent skiing in
the Columbia's for the desperate. You would need to be High
(elevation, that is) and probably somewhat north facing. The usual early season
hazards of rock, wood and ice are still waiting. The big question is - do you
want to work hard to risk missing a whole winters worth of good skiing for one
mediocre October run? Throw in some tricky crusts and possibly very
fast ski-outs and you have been warned. There is only a
little snow and wind in the Columbia's forecast but keep an eagle eye out
for surface windslabs if they get more snow than forecasted. Again, the
consequences of even a little ride could be bad with just a few snowflakes
between you and all that rock and wood.
Throughout the ranges cornices are new and
perhaps fragile. Glacier travel will still be a bit serious and the crevasses a
bit stronger but even harder to read with a wind crust. Mid elevation
scrambles in the Rockies and other dry ranges are probably the safest bet for
those who feel the need to go uphill this weekend..
Patience Grasshopper,
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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