Spent the 17th and 18th at the Columbia Icefields area. Climbed
Athabasca yesterday via AA col route in good conditions. Though not
really cold overnight it cleared and quite cold on the upper mountain
all day. Got off before the monsoons hit in the afternoon.
Some generally recent sluffing in the gullies and travel a bit
tedious in the lower third because of the air mixed in the debris.
Higher up the usually descent gully was very firm going up and down
requiring careful cramponing.
Once again we were lucky with conditions not really expecting to
summit when we started....
There is more snow on the mountain now than there was 2 weeks ago. I
can't remember having seen this much snow on the upper mountain in
many years. Everything below 9000' looks kind of normal but the
upper elevations are still very snowy. The snow line at the toe of
the aa col glacier has not receded at all in the last 2 weeks. The
summit ridge is plastered in new snow. Here is a couple of pictures
that give you a general idea.
Peter Amann
Peter Amann
Mountain Guiding
Box 1495, Jasper AB, T0E 1E0
780 852 3237
cell 780 931 2521
www.incentre.net/pamann/
pamann@xxxxxxxxxxxx
aa col area.jpg
Description: JPEG image
looking north.jpg
Description: JPEG image
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These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
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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.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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