ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia
Mountains issued May 13, 2010
We are having one of those terrific
springs where you can have excellent ski touring and rock climbing on the
same day. Forecasts are stable for a few days so take advantage
of it.
In the Rockies, excellent
skiing conditions can be found along the Banff Jasper Highway in the Rockies.
Very early starts are in order with a planned return well before noon.
Timing will be critical if you want to enjoy good corn snow instead of some
skeleton rattling and if you want to avoid high avalanche hazard.
Cornices are starting to cleave and this is the time of year where,
once they fail, can either trigger deep slabs or carry enough mass to run a
long ways-or both. Again, timing and aspect are the key. Access
to the Wapta Icefields across Bow Lake is still good in the early morning but
not a very good idea later in the day. Exits down from Scott Duncan
will likely be rugged and require a significant amount of hiking.
A number of people have reported excellent travelling on the Columbia
Icefields with near perfect conditions for ascents of Mt. Columbia.
Again, timing will be important especially when exiting down the
Athabasca glacier through the crevasse cruxes. Some of the bigger lines
for the Rockies are getting skied with excellent conditions.
Today on the north face of Mt. Stanley a party reported good skiing
with 20 to 40 cm of powder well bonded to a supportive crust. The
best skiing was on the steeper terrain above 45 degrees facing due north.
Most of the waterfall ice
routes are sun-bleached and finished. On north aspects, in the very
early part of the day, if you hate rock climbing, there may still be some
worthwhile routes. Front range crags are drying out and routes on
Yamnuska will come back into shape with this dry sunny spell. It is
still snowy getting to the Back of the Lake but a number of the routes there
are climbable. In Jasper Park, rock routes east of town are likely
coming into descent shape.
In the Selkirks at Rogers
Pass, excellent spring skiing can also be found. On the Illecillewaet and Asulkan side great
corn skiing has been reported by guides and there is snow down to the
highway. Make sure your day ends early or you will be facing high
avalanche hazard and very tedious travelling. Skiing on the
Hermit side is essentially finished with the the lower avalanche paths and
slopes melted out. There have been no reports on the alpine rock routes
on Mt. MacDonald yet but we are getting close to the time of the time of year
where the rock dries off and the access and descents, while still snow
covered, make these routes possible.
Marc Ledwidge
ACMG/UIAGM Mountain Guide
|
