Fellow guide Maarten and I ascended Crowfoot Falls today. The first tier has
not formed so we gained the glacial plateau via a shallow gully right of the
main drainage below the large serac cave at the toe of the Crowfoot Glacier. We
climbed the second tier in 2 pitches (130m WI4R). We descended the ice on
threads and the lower buttress on snow bollards. I would call the current
conditions challenging and thin. We found red and gold (10-13cm) screws useful.
We observed a rain crust with 1cm of storm snow up to 2100m. Above 2100m we
found well bonded snow over a thermal crust on slopes up to 45 degrees. Storm
snow depth varied between 10-50cm. Overall snow depth on the glacial plateau
was variable up to 1m. We also observed numerous spindrift avalanches to sz 1
on steep solar aspects.
Since Bow Lake is not frozen enough to cross, the quickest approach to this
climb is by crossing the small creek at the south end of Bow Lake.
Brent Peters
Alpine Guide
PeakStratagem.com
Sent from my iPhone
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