Yesterday, Sunday, I went to hike / scramble up Wind Ridge,
the ridge that divides the Stewart Creek and the Wind Valley,
from the Dead Man’s Flats trailhead just outside of Canmore.
There are about 10 -20 cm wind drifted snow on the trail above
1900 meters along the ridge line. Off note is that it snowed most of the
afternoon with very strong westerly winds. As so often in this area, we were
just on the fringe of the clouds. Pigeon
Mountain already on the
other side of the valley was sunny most of the day and Yamnuska may have stayed
totally dry. I imagine that areas closer to the divide must have seen a whole
lot more snow accumulation and substantial wind transport, which would increase
the avalanche hazard at (and above!) some of the popular early season ice
climbing venues such as Ranger Creek.
Visibility into Stewart
Creek was quite limited
and I couldn’t see much of Twisted Sister. The two climbs on the north
face of Mt. Lougheed (Hurly Bird and Southern Wind)
looked pretty phat from the distance but the emphasis is on distance:
It’s a long ways in!
Cheers,
Jorg Wilz
Mountain Guide (ACMG / VDBS / IFMGA)
OnTop ltd.
1 800 506 7177 or (001) 403 678 2717
www.ontopmountaineering.com