[MCR] Bow Valley Ice and Commonwealth Skiing

Hi All,
Spent last week climbing a lot of low angle ice between the Ghost, Field and Canmore area.  
We climbed:
Guinness- Hooked out
Cascade- Hooked out, Water running under thin ice on crux pitch
Rogan’s
Coire Dubh
This House of Sky- Ice shelves on river crossings getting pretty big on the drive, feels committing
Hidden Dragon/ Joker
Junkyards
Grotto- His is pretty sporty but the rest is good
Finishing Hammer Gully- Really good on super cold days if the sun is out
Spray River Falls

All routes are in and are largely in their mid season “hooked out” shape.

Skied around Commonwealth Creek today and the effects of the latest Chinook winds and all of the people out playing have had an impact on the skiing conditions.  Expect to find wind crust and hard slab in open areas and you better have a few cards up your sleeve if you want to find some fresh snow in places that aren’t either too scary or wind hammered in K-Country.  Not much for recent activity that we could see but it probably wouldn’t be hard to find a spot to trigger an avalanche with all of that wind loading. Still a great day for a walk.


--
Marc Piché
ACMG, IFMGA