ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia
Mountains issued August 19, 2010
Typical mid-August conditions
are the norm. Most routes in the Rockies and Columbias are in good
shape. Although some alpine rock routes may not be quite as dry and in “perfect”
conditions, they are nonetheless good to go. Routes that are not quite
there yet, or require more route finding to deal with residual snow include routes
such as the normal route on Hungabee or significantly more difficult routes
such as the north face routes on Alberta.
With the dry weather of the
past week and a number of clear nights, the ensuing melt freeze cycle has resulted
in excellent snow and ice climbing conditions. Great conditions have
been reported from the Columbia Icefields, the Fay area , Mt. Forbes and
Lyells as well as the Assiniboine area. If this warm dry spell continues,
icier conditions and the associated rock-fall issues that go with it, will be
something that needs to be considered. As the ice faces get drier and
greyer, rockfall will be more of an issue.
In the Interior ranges of the
Bugaboos and the Selkirks, the classics such as the Bugaboo NE Ridge, Becky
Chouinard, Sir Donald, Swiss Peak etc, are “in”. This is
the time to be ticking off these terrific routes.
There is a minor change of
weather expected this weekend and we are getting to the time of year where a
rapid change of weather could put a 48 hour damper on a number of the
classic routes. This is it though. The middle of August is usually
as good as it gets. Some years are better than others but the window
for your special objective is likely taking place between now and the end of
the month.
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Marc Ledwidge
UIAGM
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