Ice conditions from Feb. 15-20th, 2015
I have been guiding the parkway up to Jasper this week. I thought i would add to Carl's post about conditions of ice. Most climbs I looked at or did on solar aspects have a lot of running water behind them, sun rotted and delaminated from the rock. A lot of the top out bulges are still holding a lot of pooled slush. With most climbs that are fed with a steady feed of precip. are down to the bare ground on the tops. I decided to give the Weeping Wall a miss this week due to how it looked. Rotted and sun kicked. Especially the left side. The right side still looked climbable... Louise Fall is still in good shape.
Balfour Wall is melting out but still climbable
Maligne Canyon is hanging in there. Although I gave the queen (left side) a miss due to how warm it was and unsupported the climb is. Angel on the right side is in good shape and that's what we climbed. These were relatively dry.
Kerkeslin Falls is in ok shape still. Just south of Jasper. But is has a large horizontal crack at the top of pitch 3. All the way to rock. Looking in there, the ice has delaminated from the rock. This pitch won't last long if the sun continues to heat it up.
The Tangle Falls main area is pouring with water. It also is not in good shape. I didn't climb on it. But there is a good separate tier on the right side that is still dry, safe and climbable.
Most big climbs on Wilson are now gone.
Jon
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