[MCR] Polar circus, Icefields parkway -Monday-

Subject: [MCR] Polar circus, Icefields parkway -Monday-
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:10:29 -0700
A second hand report on Polar circus conditions:

"Conditions were very good. Cold start at -21 C (just before 7am). Ice was
brittle in spots, hooked out in some sections, and even some plastic on the
last pitch. There was a well beaten path on the snow slopes between
pitches, I only punched through to the faceted base layer a few times
(reminded me of the poor snowpack – saw the same thing in K country the
other weekend). It did warm up significantly (climbing with no toque at the
top in the sun – sorry I didn’t get a temp) during the day, but in the
shade it still felt pretty cold. I didn’t see any sluffing, snowballing,
rockfall, of anything else that made me think twice, but there is
definitely enough snow in the gullies that if it released, it would be
pretty huge. Temp at the end of the day was -13 (5pm ish)."

In addition, to date, Parks Canada has not done any explosive control on
the gullies above polar circus. FYI.

                                                                           
 Garth Lemke                                                               
 Public Safety Warden                                                      
 ACMG Assistant Ski Guide                                                  
                                                                           
 Garde de parc, Sécurité publique                                          
 Guide de ski auxiliaire, Association des guides de montagne canadiens     
                                                                           
 Jasper National Park of Canada | Parc national du Canada Jasper           
 Parks Canada | Parcs Canada                                               
 P.O. Box 10, Jasper AB  T0E 1E0 | C.P. 10, Jasper (Alberta)  T0E 1E0      
 Garth.Lemke@xxxxxxxx                                                      
 Telephone | Téléphone 780-852-6158                                        
 Facsimile | Télécopieur 780-852-6135                                      
                                                                           
                                                                           
 Cellular Phone | Téléphone cellulaire 780-852-8811                        
 Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada                             
 www.pc.gc.ca/jasper                                                       
                                                                           
                                                                           
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