[MCR] Icefields Parkway, Castle Hut approach

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Perfect conditions up at the Icefields the past few days with cold
overnight temps, clear skies and excellent crusts. Coverage is still
pretty good too. With a very early start we approached A2 via Boundary
Gl today and found bridges opening up so ended up nipping by on the
hard right briefly below Boundary Peak's rubbly E face (potential
rockfall hazard). A single rockfall event observed off the E face of
Athabasca's NE Ridge around 08:00, otherwise everything was holding
together well throughout the morning.

A few days ago we hiked up to Castle Hut en route to climb Eisenhower
Tower (which is in great condition). The first gully past/above the
lookout has washed out the trail badly, and the best way across now
seems to be to climb a little higher (in the gully) than before. A
well beaten trail continues to rise straight up from there (but goes
in the wrong direction) -- instead, drop a bit on a fainter trail
(small cairn) to regain the correct route to the "diagonal break".

Regards,

Tom Wolfe
Mountain Guide ACMG/IFMGA
www.sawback.com
Canmore, Alberta