[MCR] Jasper Eastern Slopes Conditions

Had a course with the Calgary ACC cancelled this weekend for obvious reasons so ended up in Jasper. (Best of luck and best wishes to all those who suffered during the recent flooding)

Since some of terrain in the south may be out of commission for a while I decided to post as mush as I could about what’s up in and around Jasper.

Water Levels:
Athabasca River, Rocky River and just about every other body of water I saw had very high water levels. A lot of water in any swampy low lying areas.

Rock Climbing Venues:

• Hidden Valley, Rock Gardens, Morro Bluffs, Juno Wall, Kerkeslin Crags, Shredder Reef, Lost Boys are all good to go.
• Bedson Ridge has been dry for months but the problem would be getting there.
• Ashlar Ridge is dry but don’t know what stream crossing is like right now. I would give it a miss until the water levels come down a bit.
• Ogre Canyon road is in really rough and wet shape. High clearance 4X4 vehicles necessary.
  

Eastern Slopes Peaks:
Roche Ronde, Roche de Smet, Cinquefoil Peak, Roche Jacques, Roche Miette, Esplanade all looked dry or primarily dry from a distance. The snow that was lingering on Roche a Perdrix earlier in June seems to have mostly melted off (Chimney and diagonal routes dry but for a couple of tiny snow patches / scramble is mostly dry as well.) Lots of cars at the Miette parking lot on the weekend.

Colin Range:
Morro, Hawk, Colin, CR5A all look pretty dry. (Overlander trail likely has some wet spots – just a guess.) CR3 (Miesner’s Ridge) has a few snow patches on the ridge that should be passable by a competent party. There is snow visible on the descent that may or may not be avoidable.

Main Ranges near Jasper:

• Pyramid Mountain had an ascent by the Edmonton Section of the ACC on Saturday. They used bikes for the approach, encountered snow on the descent and had a round trip time of 10.5 hours.
• Indian Ridge still looks to have some snow from a distance (just a guess...)
• Peveril Peak still looks to be snowy.
• Mt. Edith Cavell – still way too early to be thinking about that.
• Fryatt area – still looks snowy from a distance
  

That is about all that I got a glimpse of.

Cyril Shokoples
ACMG/IFMGA
Rescue Dynamics
http://www.rescuedynamics.ca
http://www.rescuedynamics.com





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