| Spent the last 5 days on the Columbia Icefield, in the Twins/Stutfield area (April 27 - May 1). We climbed N, S and W Twin; Twins Tower; Stutfield W & E; and Kitchener on the way out today.
Up until today it was pretty wintry up there with overnight lows in the -20 range. Lots of dry snow, mostly wind affected, making for some secure bucket steps but also making us wonder a bit at what layers may be still lurking deeper in the snowpack. No avalanche activity noted in the area though and on the surface we mostly were dealing with windcrusts. There is a lot of snow waiting to peel off though as soon as it warms up and I would be leery of steep, sunny slopes on the first few hot days. It was starting to get cooked up there today, so a melt-freeze cycle may be beginning.
Of note was the thin nature of the snowpack up there, it seemed more crevassy than normal to me. Lots of sags and bergschrunds in particular were quite evident. Looking at the trench towards Columbia it seemed more crevassed than I remember it. There also was a lot of ice exposed on the peaks, especially on the Stutfields, and the initial slopes of the S Twin had thin snow over ice so we had to pitch it out over 100 m of ice climbing there. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide www.alpinism.com |