Out on the Spearhead a few days ago. As you can imagine travel conditions are
quite variable. It was hard to tell at times but it looked like most of the big
slopes you skin up went naturally in the big avalanche cycle a few weeks ago.
More of a concern would be the new snow instabilities at places like the
Overlord North shoulder. We had no problems here but the slope seems to be
getting steeper and the crevasse below, bigger. The slope felt a bit funky.
In 15 years I have never seen such a low snow pack out there. Many crevasses
are wide open and a rope, harness and self rescue gear are highly recommended.
The average depth of snow seemed to be about 150cm's on the glaciers. On the
west slope of Iago there was 30cm's at the break-over, needless to say there
were few exposed crevasses around here.
Even though we didn't use them, ski crampons could be useful in places as the
winds have blown a few slopes down to previous ice layers.
Most of the steep skiing classics such as Tremor, Iago and fitzsimmons didn't
look very user friendly due to crevasses, cliffs or just lack of snow and I'd
hazard a guess that they are icy too.
The Overlord Gl. Has quite a few crevasses so we did a little rappel to the
south and skinned over to Whirlwind. The glacier below fissile has many open
crevasse. The Singing pass trail had little snow down low and is in poor shape.
At this rate I don't think it will last much longer.
On a good note there is still quite a bit of good powder snow out there so get
it before the flowers start to poke up!
Craig McGee, Mountain Guide
fitzsimmon.jpg
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Iago.jpg
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Overlord.jpg
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These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
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.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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