[MCR] Bugaboos and Athabasca Sept 16-19/10

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Spent Thursday through Sunday with Josh Briggs and one client looking for some good climbing conditions. With the ominous low pressure weather system affecting the local ranges we had to dig deep and be flexible to find something.

Thursday- Hiked into the Bugaboos, in a light afternoon rain. No snow at the Kain Hut.

Friday- Attempted the Big Hose on East aspect South Howser clad with snowshoes, avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes. -5C at the Bug-snowpatch col at 0700. ~ 30-50 cm of new snow on the way up the col. Several wet slides had already come down from the col the day before with at least 1 x Size 2 point release avalanche. Lots of snow ready to move off the South aspect of Bugaboos and I would expect that on a sunny and/or warm day these wet slides would bring a lot of rock with them. Used snowshoes across the Vowell glacier which were quite beneficial and we were sinking in about 30cm's. At least a meter of autumn snow on the upper Vowell glacier. 
The Big Hose itself was packed full of snow and the walls were completely covered in rime. Additional there was a lack of water ice underneath the snow. The climbing was slow due to the digging for protection and cleaning of snow so we rappelled off after 3 pitches. Additionally it had warmed up to -1C by around 1200 and didn't feel like a great place to be if it got above freezing.

Saturday- walked out of the Bugaboos (-1C at the Hut at 0800) with a mix of sun a clouds. Prepositioned at the icefields parkway planning to take advantage of the forecasted -6c and do some ice/mixed climbing for our final day. 

Sunday- As it turned out it was just barely freezing in the early morning yesterday. (-2C at 0600 at 2000m). We did manage to climb the Huisman/Isaac route on the A3 buttress of Athabasca 300m, M5. This is the buttress that faces North right above the Snocoach parking area. There was no snow at the parking lot. The lower gully (~200m) had well compacted snow and the climbing went fast. The first of the 3 pitches had water ice and was in classic mixed conditions. The final 2 pitches had a fair amount of loose rock yet to glued into placed by a 'freeze-thaw-refreeze' cycle. We rappelled and down climbed  the ridge that makes the left hand (east) skyline of the buttress. This required one 60m rappel off a huge flake/block and then another 60m rappel off a cam and a #10 Hex (hard to find anchor). This final rappel leads to a snow/scree slope above the 'outhouse' on the approach to the northern aspect Mt. Athabasca routes. There was plenty of evidence of wet, loose snow avalanches to Size 2 at 2800m and below. The weather di not allow us to see the upper part of the mountain.


In general, it seems there is a lot of snow above ~2500m which rapidly declines at lower elevations. At these lower elevations the snow is thin and melts fast when the temps go above 0C or see the sun. There is a lot of rock ready to move along with the thin melting snowpack. Looks like we may get warmer temps the next week and it would be best to stay out from under any of this melting snow. 

Cheers,


Rob Owens
ACMG Alpine Guide