[MCR] Rockies, Guiness Gully and Guiness Stout

Subject: [MCR] Rockies, Guiness Gully and Guiness Stout
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:19:29 -0600
Guided Guiness Gully and Stout today, March 14. A nice cool morning in Field, - 13 C. The 10- 30 centimetre snowpack leading to the first pitch was locked up with a moist snow surface that  had frozen hard overnight. The first pitch is getting beaten out and some 10 and 13 centimetre ice screws are helpful.

Above the top pitch of Guiness Gully there is a good trail/otterslide leading to Guiness Stout. The snowpack deepens to between 75 - 100 cm below the Stout and the recent storm snow has settled to 10 cms of dry snow. I found the March 8 surface hoar layer yielding moderate hand shears, but felt there wasn't enough load, or slab, above it to slide.

The Stout is in good shape with lots of new ice surface given the cold night. The new layer of surface hoar had grown to 4 miliimetres on top of the climb.

We bumslid much of the trail from the Stout down to the walk off (skier's left) above Guiness Gully, and were able to bumslide much of the descent gully.

A beautiful day out there.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca



_______________________________________________
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.