[MCR] Gimli peak access and conditions, Southern Selkirks

Hi all,

I went for a drive up to the Gimli trailhead this morning and the road is in decent shape. I was able to drive to with-in a 100m of the parking lot with a 2 wheel drive vehicle. There are just a few snow patches on the last 100m of road and the parking is actually free of snow. With the foretasted temperatures, this snow should melt in a few days. 

There is still heaps of snow in the Alpine but the South ridge of Gimli looked snow free climbable. That being said most of the steeper routes on the SW face will need more time to become dry. The descent is almost all snow covered and will take a while to dry out, an ice axe and crampons would be very useful. The trail to Gimli Peak would be hard to locate at this time, it looked entirely snow covered.

I noticed some small size 1 wet snow avalanches on steep solar aspects triggered by today's powerful sun rays. The Spring snowpack is melting and consolidating very slowly this year, feels like the conditions are about 3 weeks behind. I expect traveling conditions will be challenging with-out an overnight freeze and that snow stability will deteriorate quickly with daytime warming and solar radiations.

A few more weeks and snow/travel conditions in the alpine should improve significantly, a bit more sun would help too!

Cheers,

David Lussier
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
www.summitmountainguides.com

_______________________________________________
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.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
See http://informalex.org/subscribe.shtml/unsubscribe to remove your name from 
this list.