[MCR] Kokanee Glacier & Valhallas, Southern Selkirks

Hi all,

We just spent the last 3 days tromping around Kokanee Park based out of the Kokanee Glacier Chalet. This was mainly a hiking program but we did end up on the Glacier during our second day.

Conditions down here are very different then they are further north and east. The recent weather has brought some measurable precipitation at higher elevation but most of it is gone on Southerly aspects. We observed up to 20cm of recent settled snow on the Glacier above 2400m. From our observation this snow seems to be bonding well to the underlying summer snow and glacier ice. There were no signs of recent avalanche activity observed. Of note, this new snow has thinly bridged some crevasses; it is now harder to detect them. Caution is advised and roped travel recommended to keen mountaineers or early season ski tourers in this area.

We got a glimpse of the Valhalla's further West and the snow coverage looked similar that way. I would suspect that most south facing routes in there are dry again, especially after the warmer sunny day we experienced today. There is probably a little bit snow on the descent off of Gimli and Asgard, probably not enough to make it a rock fall hazard or justify bringing crampons thought. The weather forecast is rather unsettled for the weekend with a possible return of the sun by the middle of next week. Given the seasonal foretasted temperatures, I would be surprised to see significant new snow in the near future.

Alpine rock climbing on south facing routes will most likely be an option for the next little while in this area.

Have a great fall season,

David Lussier
Mountain Guide
www.summitmountainguides.com