[MCR] Mt. Assiniboine Conditons - August 28

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Greetings, 

On
 August 27th two guests and I approached Mt. Assiniboine via the BC 
Settlers Rd. "shortcut" approach - further notes on the merit of this 
approach are further down.

After a later start than anticipated we 
approached the North Ridge of Mt. Assiniboine. Overall we made fairly 
good time to the summit considering that current conditions are more 
challenging than usual, in fact we noticed more than one party opting to retreat from the route despite early starts. We had a bluebird day with hardly a
 breath of wind to the top, no freeze at the hut and only a marginal one
 at higher altitude. The round trip to summit and back took us 15 hours. 

The
 current condition of the route is actually quite fun and reasonable, 
just more time consuming. Crampons were needed from the end of the 
scramble portion to the summit. Greater
 care and protection was required moving through the mixed ground which 
did protect very well. The technical rock climbing is mostly ice and snow 
free while the upper easy and moderate bits are covered with snow and hard surfaced ice. The greater challenge and time consuming task is on the descent. 
Many route portions that would normally be down-climbed are now preferably rappelled. Besides several rappels I also 
lowered my guests in 50 meter chunks, thence carefully down-climbed 
myself. All the rappels from the summit ridge, gray band, upper ridge 
big step, red band and more are free of ice and snow and easy to find. Medium and 
stubby screws are quite useful currently. The summit crest is corniced with perhaps a greater overhang than usual, overhanging as much as 
10 - 15 meters out. 
The North face route looked to be in very good condition. 

The Hind hut recently refurbished is in excellent condition. Running water found just above the outhouse.

BC Settlers rd approach:
Any
 two wheel drive vehicle can easily handle the gravel road to the bridge
 parking. An even closer parking 200 meters further up can be reached 
with higher clearance vehicles which puts you right at the trail head. 
Anti porcupine chicken wire is scarce, enough for one vehicle only. 
Apart from a few downed trees, the trail is in 
excellent condition and very well defined. The torrent crossing ( a single log bridge with 
safety wire tram) is good. There is a glacier on the approach which appears to 
be quite benign with no visible crevasses in the compression zones and is overlain with up to 1.5 meters of neve. Though somewhat tedious, we 
were able to find good footing and swift passage through all the 
scree/talus slopes. 


It was the first time that I did this 
approach and though it is significantly shorter, I would recommend it 
only to stronger more experienced parties. There are steep scree slopes 
and trail sections, a glacier and some easy navigation required. A more technical but beautiful approach. A black bear was seen on the return. We took about 7
 hours on the way in and I made it back to the truck in 3 1/2 as scree/snow boot skiing, and the downhill all the way back make for a fast return. 


Assiniboine N. Ridge is a classic Rockies ridge in fun spicy conditions.



Eric Dumerac - Professional Mountain Guide - IFMGA/ACMG, CAA II ,CSIA II

Mountain Skills Academy

✆Canada: Canmore 011- 403-609-1564  
 		 	   		  
Mt. Assiniboine Conditons - August 28
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