ACMG
Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued
August 20th, 2009.
During
the poor weather last weekend up to 40 cm of snow fell on the high peaks in the
Rockies and the Columbias. Most of this snow has settled or melted off of
rock routes excepting on north aspects above 3000 metres. With the high
pressure finally here, the drying trend will continue. The recent snow
had brought some of the ice routes back into shape while temperatures remained cool
but now that seasonal warm temperatures are back, rockfall issues in these
types of places are likely to be significant again. On the plus side, now
that nights are getting longer, and that the sun is starting to get lower in
the sky during the day, overnight freezing with clear skies will help snow
conditions.
At
Rogers Pass, the Tupper and Swiss Peaks groups should be in good shape again. There
will likely still be some snow or wetness to negotiate on Sir Donald near the
summit ridge but again given the weather forecast, this should improve day by
day.
This
is time of the year when negotiating crevasses on glaciers can be problematic
as some can be gaping and /or bridges are thin. Bergshrunds are also
becoming difficult to cross with upper lips in places overhanging the lower
one. In the case of the Bugaboo/Snowpatch col, it is in dangerous
conditions and is not recommended. This clearly increases the complexity
of access to the west side of the Spires.
Most
of the recent reports indicate that the classic alpine objectives have come
back into condition. This may be the time to enjoy them.
Marc
Ledwidge
Mountain
Guide