[MCR] Mt Athabasca North East Ridge By-Pass Route

Subject: [MCR] Mt Athabasca North East Ridge By-Pass Route
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:49:02 -0600 (MDT)
Visitor Safety specialists went for a conditions check on Monday into the North 
basin and climbed on the North East Ridge by-pass route on Mt Athabasca. 
Considering all the snow in the alpine we carried shovels, probes and wore 
beacons today. By checking the volunteer register we found that the area had 
not had a solid overnight freeze for a few days. We had +4 degrees in the 
climbers parking lot at 0430am. The north glacier had very marginal travel 
conditions with a weak crust and boot top to knee deep penetration all the way 
into the basin. An intrepid group of three blazed a trail ahead of us for 
several hundred meters before turning back and their steps were the only 
supportive steps we had all day. The North Face has shed a bunch of snow and is 
quite unconsolidated and hip deep leading up to bergschund. The 'schrund was 
not difficult to find a place to cross but the weak bridge did make it prudent 
to find a narrow crossing. The face was all snow and had no exposed ice on
  the by-pass route. A crust was found down 25cm that seem  to bond well to the 
snow on top and there is no evidence of avalanches on that interface. Once on 
the NE ridge the snow was wet and deep and we had to clear our crampons on 
every step. We got to the traverse to the Scottish Gully and found it 
overflowing with wet snow and the gully itself quite choked up with snow. 
Considering the consequences of a wet slide on the traverse and potential for 
wind slabs in the gully we turned back from this point. There are a few small 
slabs out on the exit slope to the north face direct route and that same 
interface we found on the by-pass route likely exists here. The routes in the 
basin need a bit more time to come into shape and a few nights with a solid 
freeze would be needed to make travel more reasonable. The seracs are shedding 
ice and a large chunk released into the basin while we were on the face. +4 
degrees at 10:30 am at 3200m when we turned back.

Deryl Kelly
Visitor Safety Specialist ACMG
Jasper National Park of Canada | Parc national du Canada Jasper 
www.pc.gc.ca/jasper
_______________________________________________
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