[MCR] Mountain Conditions Summary report for Rockies and Columbia Mountains Issued August 14th 2008

Summer is back...Again...Mostly...Sort of.

Most regions of the Rockies and Columbia mountains received from 5-10cm of new snow above 2500m during the storm last weekend.  A bunch of folks headed into the mountains as soon as the clouds parted on Tuesday morning and lots of them found difficult icy conditions as they neared the tops of their routes.  Most of this new snow and ice has melted away where there has been direct sun but the temperature was still hovering right around 0 degrees in the shade at 3000m yesterday.  You can expect winter-ish conditions in some of the very high, shadier corners (upper Becky-Chouinard) and true north faces.  This cooler airmass also left a lot of people wishing they had brought an extra layer.

It seems like conditions are still quite good on most glaciers for this time of year with some post holing in the PM and the sunnier alpine rock climbs are back to the shape they were in last week.  

We have been lucky so far this year with the slower snow melt but the warmer temps have finally caught up with quite a bit of rockfall reported recently. The Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col which is starting to melt out on the upper climbers right side exposing lots of dangerous rubble is still is decent shape with a good path to the top of the col on snow but there is only about 15cm left on the ice in spots so crampons will soon be necessary to get to the upper Vowell Glacier.  

In the last two days there have been reports of good conditions on:
Temple-East Ridge
Edith Cavell- East Ridge
Snowpatch- Snowpatch Route
Bugaboo- Kain Route
Fay- West Ridge

Attached are some photos taken on Wednesday the 13th.  

The forecast looks great (so far) for the weekend!

Have Fun.

Marc Piché
ACMG Mountain Guide

Bugaboo Snowpatch Col.jpg
Description: Binary data

Stanley.jpg
Description: Binary data

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ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in 
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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