[MCR] Pinnacle Peak Area, St. Elias Range, Kluane National Park. May 29th - June 3rd, 2014

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

A group of 5 Parks Canada staff from Kluane, Banff and Jasper spent 6 days 
in the Pinnacle Peak area of the St. Elias range last week. Here is what 
we found:

Weather: Mostly clear weather with light winds and temperatures ranging 
from +10 to -10. We had a significant storm on the morning of June 3rd 
which dropped 30 cms with moderate ridgetop winds.

Travel Conditions: The strong diurnal cycle created good travel conditions 
overnight and in the mornings with a 10cm+ thick melt freeze crust.  This 
crust was breaking down on solar aspects around noon. Ski and boot 
crampons were very useful. We consistently probed over 3m of snow on all 
glaciers in our area. We had good confidence in crevasse bridges when 
temperatures were cool, but could see many obvious sags where the weight 
of the bridge was starting to cause strain.

Avalanche Activity: We saw minimal avalanche activity throughout the week 
and gained confidence in our danger rating of Low. Avalanche problems were 
typical for spring: loose wet related to daytime warming and small 
windslabs on high north aspects. We forecasted the avalanche danger to 
rise to Moderate or Considerable with the precipitation we received on the 
3rd but didn't get out in the field to test our theory.

We had additional flights on both the way in and out around the south side 
of Mt. Logan and Mt. Kennedy/ Hubbard and Alverstone and noticed very 
little avalanche activity and no recent deep fracture lines. Many of the 
steeper faces were blue and icy. Kluane National Park staff felt glacier 
coverage was average, but some glaciers were more broken than normal.

We found the terrain to be nicely varied with many options for ski touring 
and general mountaineering in close proximity to our camp. 

It has been better than average weather up there this spring - hopefully 
it holds out for folks still planning trips there this season.



Ian Jackson & Max Darrah
ACMG Mountain Guides
Parks Canada Visitor Safety
Banff/Yoho/Kootenay & Jasper National Parks
www.parksmountainsafety.ca | www.parcsecuritemontagne.ca
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