![]()
ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued june 16, 2011
A grey day in the Rockies and Columbia mountains. In the Rockies this morning it was raining fairly hard from the Divide around Lake Louise to Canmore. At Lake O'Hara it was just barely snowing at 2000m and snow was sticking to the ground around 2400m at 8am.
Temperatures have been relatively cool in the past week so there has been only slow changes. Travel around treeline is still difficult in many places, especially the snow in the forest, shallow snowpack areas and in talus. Where the snowpack is over 1m deep it is usually much better and old avalanche debris generally carries the best.
Yesterday, we had a mediocre freeze and a fairly grey day. In the O'Hara area this gave us good snow climbing conditions in the Wiwaxy towers to around 2700m and even solid snow on the descent to around 2200m in the afternoon.
In the past 3 days at O'Hara I saw no recent slab avalanche activity and only scattered cornice falls and small wet avalanches out of steep, sun effected mixed terrain. One snow profile at 2600m, west aspect, open slope with 120 cm of snow on a grey morning showed a fairly well consolidated spring snowpack with no significant weak layers.
As a few reports from the Icefields have mentioned, crevasse bridges are shrinking and are low strength without a good freeze. Cornices are drooping and alpine ice runnels are melting below 3000m. Moats below cliffs are opening up and can present a bit of a complication. Water is starting to run in the alpine and weak snow bridges over these little drainages is a nasty hazard to watch out for. Spring is coming!
South and west faces offer the best access to the alpine right now. North and east aspects are much wintrier. eg. Grassi ridge is completely dry with just drifts on the NW facing descent gullies.
We still haven't had a HOT day in the alpine. It will happen eventually and that will be the day to keep a very weather eye for big avalanches from a safe location.
Even on the east slope rock climbs it is still only spring. Heard a spooky story of someone lightly kicking off a BIG block on a VERY well travelled route on Yamnuska on the weekend. I would guess the block has been pulled and stood on a couple of thousand times. A winters worth of melting and freezing has just ended and loose blocks are a very renewable resource in these ranges.
It looks like it may be a grey weekend in the mountains. Most scrambling objectives could be good if the rain stays away and you carefully consider cornice and rockfall hazards should the sun come out. Glacier travel will be dependent on temperatures and a probe could be really useful for determining strength of snow and where the crevasses really are. Front range rock routes could dry out quickly(Only light new snow visible at 2pm on the top of Mt. Rundle).
Larry Stanier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
![]()
|
|
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.
|
_______________________________________________
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.
|