[MCR] Mt. Somerville Tsar Area. Alpine Club Camp

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

A mixed bag week at the Alpine Club's General Mountaineering camp in 
the Somerville- Tsar area.
Still a lot of snow at higher elevations. Cornices are a concern on 
many of the larger summits, and there seems to be a lot of active 
icefall activity.

During the week of July 9-16, no parties made it up Tsar. There was a 
lot of new snow at the end of the week before the 9th which 
deteriorated conditions.

July 14th was the only day with a freeze. There was new snow again up 
high which insulated the old wet snow. Most of the climbs we did 
during the week were fairly straight forward glacier walks with some 
scrambling here and there on classic Rockies "loose rock" One party 
looked at the South ridge of Somerville which was reported to be 
mainly mud and shale.

There was a lot of natural activity though mostly surface 
instabilities, cornice failures and sluffing. One notable slab was 
seen triggered from rock fall above on a unnamed glacier east of the 
Odell massive.
After rain all day on the 15th, Tsar sports a new blanket of snow. 
Snow line yesterday was about 2500 metres.

Mt. Somerville still has very large cornices on the ridges which are 
going to take a while to melt back. there were numerous large cornice 
failures on the ridges of Somerville.
Mt Ellis was climbed by numerous parties. It has a short steep 
section facing south which required good timing.
We had rain on most days, big cells moving through and rain amounts 
depended on where you were, timing and luck.
The map being in 40 meter contours is a bit vague and things have 
receded a lot over recent years.

Some unnamed summits on the Shackleton glacier were also climbed. The 
glaciers here are quite broken up with ramps connecting the peaks.

Essentially things were unsettled wet and warm during the week.
Travel was not to bad with feet going in mid calf at the most during 
afternoon descents.
The pass between Tsar and Somerville is still quite snowy with the 
lakes just breaking up from the ice. The glacier on Tsar has receded 
quite a bit from pictures in the guide books making access somewhat easier.

A spectacular area, a very picturesque setting for the camp.

I have put in a couple of tracks from Mt Ellis and From an unnamed 
(Louise Peak) which I recorded.

The road is presently washed out at KM 96. There are a number of 
vehicles parked on the far side of the washout waiting for the 
road  to get fixed...hopefully this week!
One made it through....one tried, the rest of us will wait till the 
road gets fixed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrwfa3UaIk


Peter Amann
Mountain Guide





Peter Amann

pamann at incentre.net
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