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ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies
and Columbia Mountains issued Sept. 3rd, 2009.
The LONG spell of excellent alpine rock climbing
ended, at least temporarily, this afternoon. Today,
on Cathedral Mountain(Kicking Horse Pass/O'Hara) it starting
raining about 1pm well above 3400m and then as the cold front blew in with
high winds and lightning around 3pm, things dramatically cooled and snow
starting to stick down to around 2700m. Hard to estimate at this point how much
snow fell but my wild guess is that most areas of the Rockies and Columbias
received less than 10cms.
The question for many routes is-will this snow get
a chance to stick to the ice and melt off the rock? It is unlikely enough
snow fell to create an widespread avalanche hazard but, I am an expert, and
I therefore wouldn't be surprised at all if my guess of snow accumulation is way
off!! Obviously any deep drifts are fresh and should be presumed to be
fragile. Perhaps the most subtle hazard could be fresh little cornices
given all the wind today.
Glaciers are still almost completely bare under the
new snow.The new snow and wind may obscure some crevasses, especially on the big
icefields.
Alpine ice climbing is still mostly a bad idea on
most of the classic faces and gullies. All those terrifying, just melted out
rocks and boulders are still just waiting for a nudge. Patience
Grasshopper!
Good overnight freeze last night, mostly warm air
in the am and big thunderstorms in the pm today. Summer ain't over
yet!
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain
Guide
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