From mcr at informalex.org Mon Jul 6 09:26:13 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:26:13 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Bow Peyto area Message-ID: <20090706132619.48F5512B09E@sparta.incentre.net> Traversed from Bow to Peyto and a few peaks in between over July 2-5th. Fairly good travel overall. Climber Olive and St Nicholas on the 3rd. Olive was quite firm but on St Nicholas we avoided the snow for the most part as it was getting soft. The glacier was good travel where fat, soft in rocky areas. Climbed Thompson on the 4th and the patches of snow held up. Heading down to Peyto hut was good, all except for the middle part of the slope leading down from Thompson pass which was isothermal for about a rope length then fortunately firm again. (Not an avalanche hazard just not much fun) One interesting slab out on the NW side of Thompson. Travel down the Peyto was reasonable even with a minimal freeze but some postholing was found where it was a bit shallower on the flats leading to the lower ramp. In general I would say there is somewhat more snow than usual on the glaciers especially above 9000 feet. An interesting new crevasse/shrund opening on the N side of Rhonda North (Habel Peak) The glacier towards Peyto Peak and Trappeur looks like it is certainly receding. Peter Amann MG pamann at incentre.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: thompson slab.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 98054 bytes Desc: not available Url : From mcr at informalex.org Mon Jul 6 14:45:13 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:45:13 -0700 Subject: [MCR] Howsons 5 July 09 Message-ID: <4A524639.3020206@bearmountaineering.ca> The snow is slow to leave the Howsons. All glaciers are still snow covered to their toes. The creeks and rivers are past their peak and crossings should be come easier, particularly during cool mornings. -- Christoph Dietzfelbinger IFMGA/ UIAGM Mountain Guide - Bear Mountaineering and the Burnie Glacier Chalet Box 4222 Smithers, B.C. V0J 2N0 Canada tel. 250-847-3351/ fax 250-847-2854 info at bearmountaineering.ca www.bearmountaineering.ca From mcr at informalex.org Tue Jul 7 01:16:59 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 23:16:59 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Bugaboos - Pigeon Spire Message-ID: <86C67B11904A4150838A71F7A06E21C5@gizzf2qo> Todd G. and I returned from the Bugaboos on Sunday evening after taking our clients to Pigeon Spire on Saturday. Overnight refreeze on Saturday was marginal and consequently the climb to the Bugaboo -Snowpatch Col was pretty soggy but still easy to travel with ice and rocks well covered by snow. We went to the first summit on the West Ridge without encountering any snow en route. A guided party did (probably) this season's first ascent of the true summit the day before and reported that crampons and ice axe were essential with the strong overnight refreeze that they had at the time. We descended via the Bugaboo Glacier, which required crossing two crevasse bridges high up on the descent. Those bridges will likely not last over the summer and a good overnight refreeze is recommended when choosing this route. The glacier is snow covered all the way to the level where the route traverse to the left to gain the moraine and traveled well in spite of the soft snow. Cheers, Jorg Wilz Mountain Guide (ACMG / IFMGA) www.ontopmountaineering.com 1-800 506 7177 or (001) 403 678 2717 From mcr at informalex.org Tue Jul 7 10:19:33 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:19:33 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Pigeon Spire Bugaboos Message-ID: Here is a photo of Pigeon in the Bugaboos to add to Jorg's poste. Marco Delesalle Mountain Guide -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: L1010194.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 245743 bytes Desc: not available Url : From mcr at informalex.org Tue Jul 7 10:14:25 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:14:25 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Pigeon Spire Bugaboos Message-ID: Here is a photo of Pigeon in the Bugaboos to add to Jorg's poste. Marco Delesalle Mountain Guide -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: L1010194.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 245743 bytes Desc: not available Url : From mcr at informalex.org Wed Jul 8 08:52:46 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 06:52:46 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Mt Lefroy Message-ID: <936F7993-182F-4ACD-8E26-F703839C7170@telus.net> We approached the Abbott Pass Hut from Lake O'Hara on July 6th. Three hours of heavy rain bought the approach gully to life with rock fall. One member of an amateur team had a large duffle bag sized rock impact just above him, where it thankfully spent much of its energy, then drop onto his back and roll over him. He was evacuated by helicopter suffering a broken tooth, lacerated lip and possible concussion. A good freeze at Abbott Pass that night with winds switching to northerly. We were able to kick steps and move together to within two ropelengths of the summit. Had we stayed in the main part of the Right Hand Gully we would have been able to move together right to top (another guided party did just that). We were able to dig through 40-60 cms of snow to get to ice screws on the top half of the route while lowering on descent. Bottom half of the route required snow anchors in the still frozen conditions we had. Overall the route is in great shape. No rain, and little rockfall, on our descent from Abbott Pass. Happy trails, Barry Blanchard UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide Yamnuska Mountain Adventures -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mcr at informalex.org Wed Jul 8 22:12:05 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 20:12:05 -0600 (MDT) Subject: [MCR] Mount Sir Donald, NW Ridge Message-ID: <17044734.220097.1247105525831.JavaMail.nitido@priv-edmwes92> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mcr at informalex.org Thu Jul 9 02:55:48 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 23:55:48 -0700 Subject: [MCR] Nlhaxten Conservancy/Ceriese Ck Message-ID: <000801ca0062$4a8e8690$dfab93b0$@com> Just spent a few days up at the new Cereise Ck/ Nlhaxten Conservancy. Precip on Tuesday fell as snow above 2100m. Up to 20 cm accumulation near Anniversary col, now melting rapidly. Many small sluffs out of steep snow slopes/Joffre gullies etc. Good summer snow travel conditions otherwise. Of note, the old logging road has been completely deactivated, including ripping out the main bridge across Cereise Ck. There is 2 sketchy log/timber options in place, but on Sunday the water flow was torrential so we opted to take the winter route for ? hour until we could get across the creek at the ol log bridge crossing (now long gone, with just a rope remaining) just before North Joffre Ck. Knee-depth water crossing worked quite well, but have to use your nose to make the winter route work, as the trail is not well defined once you get past the marshy bits. On the way out we took the full summer trail, and waded across the significantly less torrential creek. Brian Gould MG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mcr at informalex.org Thu Jul 9 19:31:28 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 17:31:28 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains. Thursday July 8, 2009 Message-ID: A stormy week this week for the mountains has changed the overall conditions somewhat. Monsoon type rainfall early in the week saturated the snowpack and created a few full depth slab avalanches on steep glacial ice. As temperatures cooled, the snow line came down to approximately 2600 metres. The new snow has accumulated up to approximately 15cm at the higher elevations, and is also insulating the rain soaked snow so that a crust has not yet formed. The ACMG alpine training school in the Rockies this week climbed Aberdeen, Lefroy and Athabasca, and they were reporting good travelling on ridge crests and packed snow but postholing on open snow slopes. They also reported sagging crevasse bridges and tricky glacier route finding with the uncertainty of the bridge strength. With cool showery weather in the forecast at least through Saturday evening, the conditions will be slow to improve. However, just one clear night would likely be enough to create a good strong crust in the rain soaked layer and snow travel will be good again. Expect some loose avalanching in the new snow before it settles. Another concern is rockfall. With more snow melt this week when the rain was falling, lots more loose rock has been exposed. A party approaching Abbott's pass earlier in the week was hit by a very large rockfall that could easily have been much more serious. Pay attention to the temperatures and try to travel in exposed areas while things are frozen. Lower elevation rock climbs are in good shape, but the pattern of afternoon showers and thunderstorms is dictating an early start on a shorter route that can be finished early, or alternately something that is easy to retreat from. The conditions in the Columbias sound similar, with snow lines around 3000 metres. Brad White IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide From mcr at informalex.org Sun Jul 12 11:35:55 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:35:55 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Little Yoho, July 9, 11 Message-ID: <7E165F09-C20D-494E-8586-4E1FD40BD69C@telus.net> Climbed Isolated Peak and Mt McArthur via the southeast glacier on July 9th. Good step kicking into 15 cms of new snow the consistency of spongy whale fat, didn't use crampons. Descended via the southeast drainage between McArthur and Pollinger which works, but is not as good as going back the way we came. July 11th we climbed the President and Vice President. Good step kicking up the glacier with the new snow mentioned above settling quickly, we put on crampons. Bergschrund at the col was passed on the President side and this passage should be useable for awhile. Vice President was climbed directly from the col via a snow gulley. The sun and warmth started some snow moving in point release avalanches on east slopes by noon. Happy trails, Barry Blanchard UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide Yamnuska Mountain Adventures -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mcr at informalex.org Sun Jul 12 19:13:56 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:13:56 -0600 Subject: [MCR] Mt. Athabasca AA Col Message-ID: Climbed Mt. Athabasca today via the AA Col with a group from the ACC Calgary Section. At 3:30am this morning it was +10 degrees, which was a little concerning, but thankfully the temperature steadily dropped as we gained altitude. There was not a good freeze overnight, but the snow was reasonably supportive in most areas. Above the bergschrund we experienced ankle to mid-shin boot penetrations with a 2 to 3cm thick crust on the surface of the snow. This made for good steps on ascent, but was a little tricky and annoying on the descent. The bergschrund is still easily passable. The upper mountain is in excellent condition with easy travel conditions. We were glad for an early start given such a warm day. There were several loose snow avalanches and rock fall triggered on the big walls of Mt. Andromeda as we descended. The snow on the glacier was very weak by 11:00am. We talked with a party who climbed the north glacier ramp route and they reported soft snow conditions as well. Have fun! Jeremy Mackenzie ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide _________________________________________________________________ Internet explorer 8 lets you browse the web faster. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9655582 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mcr at informalex.org Sun Jul 12 23:42:20 2009 From: mcr at informalex.org (Public Mountain Conditions Report) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:42:20 -0700 Subject: [MCR] Kokanee Glacier Park - Silver Spray Message-ID: <200907130342.n6D3gKOf016770@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Glacier View Pk slide 09.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 98237 bytes Desc: not available Url :