[MCR] Athabasca conditions May 28-30

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

>  Just returned from 3 days at the Columbia Icefields, working with Grant

> Meekins on the Yamnuska Snow and Ice long weekend.

>  

>  Day 1: Parker¹s Ridge wind lip is very large allowing for multiple large

> groups to work on crevasse rescue. We found the slopes on the way up to be wet

> but still useful for snow walking and self arrest training. Afternoon

> convective snow squalls came in repeatedly.

>  

>  Day 2: Athabasca North glacier, crampon and ice axe use. Crevasse rescue

> practice. We opted to stay low on the toe expecting large amounts of snow

> higher. Several features provided a good venue for a variety of crampon

> techniques and easy access to ice for anchors with the thinner snow cover.

>  

>  Day 3: Today in the campground we woke to clear skies, 0°,calm for a 0300

> start of the AA col route to Athabasca.

>  Solid freeze overnight provided excellent travel. We chopped steps on the way

> up across snow pockets in the upper part of the rock band before the upper

> Andromeda glacier.  We then used crampons up the AA Col slope, all the way to

> the summit and back. The slopes below the col have had widespread moist

> avalanches, which have improved stability and deposited large amounts of

> debris across the bergshrund providing solid bridging. Variable clouds

> throughout the day helped to preserve the freeze allowing for easy return off

> the summit and down the AA Col.

>  

>  Hard to imagine better conditions for a summit day

>    

>  John Freeman

>  ACMG ­ Assistant Alpine Guide

>  offroute1 at gmail.com

           http://offroute-again.blogspot.com/







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/mcr/attachments/20110530/84a5c317/attachment.htm>