Climbed Boundary Peak in the Columbia Icefields Friday, May 14.
The snow pack is highly variable depending on altitude and time of day.
Below approximately 2500 m, daytime heating was producing isothermal snow by
noon. With a good overnight freeze such as during the night of May 13,
crampons were needed in the AM due to a hard melt-freeze crust. This crust
broke down rapidly as temperatures warmed up.
Above 2500 m, the crust was less pronounced and less supportive in the AM.
This layer overlies 35 cm of dry snow which is lying on a melt-freeze crust
beneath it. Foot penetration varied from 10 to 30 cm.
There have been numerous size 1.0 wet snow avalanches in the Icefields and
along the Parkway, especially from steep solar aspects and around rocks.
There was also a size 2.0 slab that came out of the North Glacier Ramp on Mt
Athabasca. The crown appeared to be about 35 cm high and the avalanche was
more than 48 hours old. See attached photo.
Of note, as of May 14th, the Icefields Campground is not yet open, and the
access road is not fully plowed. Most of the tent sites are under 50 cm of
snow. Wilcox Campground is not open yet either.
Take care,
Grant Meekins
Mountain Guide
Mt Athabasca Ramp 100514.JPG
Description: JPEG image
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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.
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