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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued May 15th, 2008.
The May long weekend is coming with blue skies and
warm temperatures in the forecast. Sounds like a great weekend to be in the
mountain but---
Today was the first REALLY hot day of spring. Last
weeks storm snow and the whole winter snowpack are being deeply stressed by the
daytime heat and solar radiation. In Canmore alone a BIG, DEEP size 3 avalanche
ran today around 10:30 am in the Miners Couloir. The fracture line was around
150m wide and well over 1m deep. It ran WAY down into the snowfree ground below
treeline. Several other large size 2 avalanches were visible from town. A report
from Lake Louise mentioned several avalanches were triggered by
explosives above the Moraine Lake road. These paths were fairly dry and they had
already slid so no debris reached the road. One very large slab
avalanche was observed below the East face of Mt. Babel. In the alpine and at
treeline conditions are likely to get worse for awhile with a
forecast of at least two more days of hot, sunny weather.
In the Columbia mountains you should assume a
similar avalanche cycle is under way. The Canadian Avalanche Association and
Glacier National Park each issued special avalanche advisories
today. Glacier Park's report mentions a few large avalanches. Most
worrisome to me was the fact that they had not had a decent overnight
strengthening of the snow for several days. This is of concern for the snow
stability but also for the strength of crevasse bridges.
So backcountry travel is not recommended. If you
are really on the ball and IF we you get a solid overnight freeze, it may be
reasonable to get up desperately early and travel safely on the snow for a few
hours. If you are thinking of traveling anywhere in the big mountains this
weekend be very conscious of the daytime heat. Friday and Saturday in
particular have the potential for large destructive avalanches to reach the
valley floor in snowy places like the Asulkan Valley and the Plain of Six
Glaciers trail.
On the East Slope of the Rockies, crags are drying out very nicely and it
seems a great weekend to get out rockclimbing. Many scrambling peaks are
still snowy so be conscious of avalanches and rockfall in this terrain.
The good news is that this heat and avalanche cycle
will definitely help destroy some of the persistent weak layers in the snowpack.
We may have some fine spring skiing and alpine climbing coming eventually, but
you have to survive this weekend to enjoy that.
Good Luck and please don't shoot the
messenger.
Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
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