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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued September 11th, 2008.
Autumn/Winter seems to be here in the alpine. As
usual, snow amounts and elevations vary greatly between aspects, elevations and
ranges. However, it is safe to assume there may be sufficient snow for
avalanching above 3000m everywhere and lower on north aspects close to
the divide in all ranges. There have been scattered reports of weak layers
within the recent storm snow. There is nowhere near enough observers in the
mountains right now to verify this but it would be very wise to assume most big
snow slopes in the alpine are suspect. If we get a warm weekend as forecasted,
wet sloughs are also going to be a concern.
Glacier travel is well into the tricky autumn
season now. On Wednesday I was walking around small crevasses I am totally
familiar with. I knew they were only covered by approx. 20cms of snow and I
could not see them at all. This is
definitely the season to be carrying a short probe or a long ice axe on the
glacier to avoid nasty surprises.
There seems to be a little less snow in the
Columbias than the Rockies as of Wednesday. However, temperatures everywhere
have been COLD out of the sun. 0 degrees
C at the O'Hara parking lot at 1600hrs
yesterday! Snow was not melting out of the sun down to 2500m yesterday
between Moraine Lake and Lake O'Hara. I think it is safe to assume there is NO
dry alpine rock right now close to the divide.
Lots of alpine water ice forming. Keep in mind it
is fresh and ephemeral in most places and the white stuff may have the
consistency and strength of cold shaving cream.
East of the divide, routes like Castle mtn and
Louis are mostly dry, but there is precip in the forecast for
Friday.
It looks like it could be a beautiful weekend to be
in the mountains. Choose your route with care and assume you may be moving
a bit slowly between trailbreaking, snowed up rock and probing for
crevasses.
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain
Guide
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