[MCR] Canmore - Front Range

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to hike / scramble up Wind Ridge, the ridge that divides the Stewart Creek and the Wind Valley, from the Dead Man’s Flats trailhead just outside of Canmore.

 

There are about 10 -20 cm wind drifted snow on the trail above 1900 meters along the ridge line. Off note is that it snowed most of the afternoon with very strong westerly winds. As so often in this area, we were just on the fringe of the clouds. Pigeon Mountain already on the other side of the valley was sunny most of the day and Yamnuska may have stayed totally dry. I imagine that areas closer to the divide must have seen a whole lot more snow accumulation and substantial wind transport, which would increase the avalanche hazard at (and above!) some of the popular early season ice climbing venues such as Ranger Creek.

 

Visibility into Stewart Creek was quite limited and I couldn’t see much of Twisted Sister. The two climbs on the north face of Mt. Lougheed (Hurly Bird and Southern Wind) looked pretty phat from the distance but the emphasis is on distance: It’s a long ways in!

 

Cheers,

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide (ACMG / VDBS / IFMGA)

 

OnTop ltd.

1 800 506 7177 or (001) 403 678 2717

www.ontopmountaineering.com

 

[MCR] Recent Spammming of MCR

Hello MCR subscribers,

 

Recently you may have received one or more MCR posts that were clearly not related to mountain conditions. Our system was spammed for the first time, resulting in those unfortunate posts. Please accept our sincere apologies on behalf of the ACMG. Although it is impossible to guarantee success, we are implementing system changes that will minimize the chances that this will happen again.

 

Have a wonderful and safe winter.

The ACMG MCR Committee

 

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[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 27th, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 27th, 2011 It certainly feels like the autumn "nether" season in the Rockies and Columbia Mountains. A week of cold nights, cool days, wind and scattered precipitation means lots of slippery trails, cold, wet or icy rock, not much ice and damn poor skiing in most places. Having said that, south facing rock in the sun is still possibly enjoyable if the wind isn't blowing. Choose something you can move fast on and get off of easily. An unplanned october bivy on steep terrain would be a long, dull nightmare. Ice is definitely forming in the high shady lands and is starting to get climbed. There has been a couple of cycles of forming then falling off observable from the roads. Forecast is for cold for a couple of day then a slight warming over the weekend. Possibly not a big stress, but the structural integrity of the early season ice is usually variable and generally weak so do keep an eye open for running water/creaking ice and warmish air. Skiing-well, it is likely to get better in the future:) 15cm on the ground at the Rogers Pass this morning. 50-60cm at treeline around the Rogers Pass and you are still walking on the ground. You know the deal-- stumps, rocks, rhubarb etc. Crevasses are just covered enough to be hard to see. Probably similar around the Rockies alpine and icefields. Scrambling and general mountaineering-well the days are short, the nights are long and lots of the countryside is slippery. Possibly just enough snow and wind in the high treeline and alpine to have the odd windslab lurking and fresh fragile cornice growth. Good Luck, the Banff Film fest starts this weekend and I bet there are some cheap last minute flights to places near warm, sunny crags. Larry Stanier ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Rundle Trophy Wall Ice

While flying by Mt. Rundle on Tuesday, Alex Taylor snapped this photo of
the ice on the trophy wall.
Brad White
Mountain Guide(See attached file: Rundle Trophy Wall.jpg)

[MCR] Playground - Loose Bolts

Heads up for any of the keeners spending time at the Playground.
During a good day of training on the rock, noticed several loose nuts on bolts. The bolts themselves seem to be fine but on 2 we saw that the hangers were about to fall off and others were only hand tight.
Will pack a wrench next time in there. It may be a good item to pack one yourself if you are planning to climb there.

John Freeman
    
ACMG – Alpine Guide
SPRAT III
offroute1@gmail.com
http://www.johnfreemanguide.com
http://offroute-again.blogspot.com/
http://yamnuska.com/
403 679 1082

[MCR] Rock and Ice near Canmore.

Hola!

Just a couple of quick obs. from the last week and a bit.

I've been rock guiding (believe it or not) for the last two weeks or so. It's actually been surprisingly comfortable with clear skies and direct sun exposure, even despite the single digit high temps. Best options seemed to be the lines on the back of Tunnel Mountain in Banff (Gooseberry, Tonka, Ballista) which was loosing the sun around 2:30pm, Guide's Rock (Aftonroe, Take it for Granite etc...) stayed sunny all day, as did our days up on Yamnuska. Lasts nights snow as well as that in the next few days' forecast might mean we're not so lucky this coming week, but never know.

Also went up to do some Ice Climbing yesterday with Clinton Winterhalt (ARG) at Ranger Creek. R&D, Lone Ranger, and Chalice were all in good shape. We played around on R&D for an hour or so but all the lines looked like they'd have some fun climbing right now. R&D was in good shape, decent protection and good hooking the whole way.

Have fun out there.

 

Mike Trehearne

     Alpine Guide & Asst. Ski Guide

mike@cloudnineguides.com

www.yamnuska.com 

[MCR] Lake O'Hara, Yoho Park Conditions Oct 23

Spent the night at Lake O'Hara Oct 22nd.  There was about 3 cm of snow at the lake.  We woke up to 15-20cm on the ground and -3 degrees this morning (Oct 23rd).  See photos.

 

Jordy Shepherd

ACMG / IFMGA Mountain Guide

www.PeakAlpine.com

 

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 20, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 20, 2011 Weather: Columbias: It looks like the sunny weather of last week is a thing of the past and we will be seeing precipitation over the weekend with some improvement starting Tuesday. With freezing levels forecasted to drop to between 1000m. and 1500m., you can be sure there is going to be some snow in the mountains! Rockies: Looking dryer for the Rockies in general with no precipitation forecasted in the next while Conditions: It has been a week of typical fall weather with sunny days and cool nights. This has made for some enjoyable rock climbing on Yamnuska and other front range objectives that catch the sun. Some ice climbs are starting to shape up, but the operative word here is "starting". General consensus out there is that most will need a bit more time and supplementing your stubby icescrews with some rock protection is probably a wise thing. Previous storms have deposited anywhere from 20-30cms of snow above @ 1800-2000m.throughout the Rockies and Columbias making travel awkward above the snowline. Fellow Guide Josh Briggs reported climbing R&D a few days back and said that they encountered @ 20cms. Of snow in the trees with knee deep drifts in the Burstall Pass area. Alpine terrain looks pretty much out for now with loose unconsolidated snow mixed in with the occasional windslab to keep you honest. Of course this snow cover makes roped glacier travel tedious with lots of probing to avoid a plunge into an unseen crevasse. As for skiing – I know there is snow out there for sure but…,you have to be really keen, and personally, it would have to be a pretty benign snowfield that I had had a good look at before the snow fell to ensure there were no hidden crevasses – unless of course you enjoy skiing roped up! Hazards: Early season avalanche hazard is on the rise, and this tends to be a time of year when our keenness to get out there sometimes interferes with our better judgement. Isolated windslabs are probably the biggest issue currently, as well as new soft cornices on Alpine ridgecrests. As usual this is a transitional time of year with lots of "Stick and Stones to break your Bones", and requires some patience and good judgement to make sure you make it to when things really do come into shape. Thanks to the numerous guides who passed along some great info - Play safe, Scott Davis ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 13th, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 13th, 2011 At the moment it seems that autumn is creeping along with not really enough snow for good skiing and too much for decent alpinism. Generally observations are somewhat limited from the alpine these days but all reports seem to confirm the same picture. Above 3000m there is just enough snow to form windslabs and fresh cornices in lee features. These are probably gaining strength but with long cool nights change is slow. Below 3000m to around 2300m there is enough snow anywhere shady to mean greasy rock climbing and walking. Glacier travel will be tricky in many places with just enough new snow masking the old crevasse bridges left over from the summer. Good time for a probe to reduce the chances of experiencing that "sinking feeling". Best bets- forecast is cool and sunny so low elevation south facing rock could be good. For the keeners, the cold temps might bring on some early season ice. I would be looking for good moderate elevation mixed climbing that keeps me away from complicated descents and moderate alpine terrain. With the new snow around travel may be slow and the sun may just enough punch to melt out some rocks in the daytime heat on south aspects. Bad bets-alpine rock routes-GREASY!!! Skiing-probably doable in a few places but I sure wouldn't want my skis or my body out there yet. The bull elk around Canmore are looking for romance and hollering for a fight. The bears probably have the last minute hunger stress going on. Good weekend to not look romantic, tough or tasty in the woods. Larry Stanier IFMGA Mountain guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Monashees

In the Monashees SW of Mica 35 km. at 1950 m it has been snowing for  the last 24hrs up to 3 cm/hr. No frost in the ground at this elevation, but now 20-25 cm fresh. Temps above zero during the day and dipping just below during the night. 5 or 6 degrees colder when it has been clear. The snowline has dropped to about 1800 m.

 

Craig Ellis

Mountain Guide, ACMG/UIAGM

info@craigellismountainguiding.com

[MCR] Little Yoho

Just back from the little Yoho Valley today via the ice line trail, spent 5 nights at the Stanley Mitchell hut with collegue's, Fridjon Thorleifsson(AAG,SG) and Dave Wan(HG) with a College of the Rockies group. Temps were rather mild for the first few days and started to cool off yesterday. This morning dawned cool and bright, -2 at the hut.
The glaciers are quite variable as far as snow amounts go. We had Hst of up to 40cm on the glacier going up to the President on Wednesday and snow was moist to the summit. The bergshrund is still easily passed on the climbers right side.
There is now enough snow to hide many crevasses and we managed to find a few on the glacier up to Emerald pass in white out and snowing conditions.
We observed a few sluffs out of steep terrain but no slabs this past week.
Have fun out there.
Cheers
Todd Craig, MG
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 08, 2011

ACMG Mountain Conditions Report Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 08, 2011 Our apologies for the late arrival of this MCR Report. Conditions The snows have arrived up high and there has been a drastic reduction in the amount of activity in the mountains. There is little new information available but with reports of 20-40 cm of new snow in the alpine on October 1st and over 50mm o rain since then I think it is safe to say that the mountains in the forecast area are currently out of condition. Snowline is down to about 2000m in the Banff /Canmore area and more is forecast before the end of the weekend. Forecast It seems that Saturday will have some sunny breaks in most of the forecast area then it will become wet and cold in the west again while remaining unsettled in the Bow Valley. What is Good Lower elevation hikes to enjoy the last of the fall colours and maybe some cragging on sunny aspects for the hardcore. What is not Anything above 2000m or so will be very snowy. In the high alpine there is now close to 1 metre of new snow and there is significant avalanche hazard on all aspects - caution is advised. This new snow will have contributed to significant cornice growth and will also do a great job of masking crevasses making glacier travel quite challenging. Marc Piché ACMG Mountain Guide
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] O'Hara October 3rd, 2011

The buses are stopped at O'Hara and it will be a very quiet place by wednesday or thursday.

As of 5pm yesterday, snow down to around 3000m and looking very white above that. Cool day yesterday so no wet avalanches observed and no fractures lines seen but light was mediocre most of the day.

The fine looking runnels of two weeks ago are all long gone and at present gullies look more snowy than icy.

Some fine solitude to be had if you can handle walking up the road.

Larry Stanier
Mountain Guide
_______________________________________________
These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

[MCR] Icefields Conditions

Myself and several other guides just finished teaching a course at the Columbia Icefields.  We climbed Boundary Peak and A2 on Wednesday, and Athabasca via AA col on Thursday.  The weather was a mixed bag starting with heavy rain and snow in valley bottom on Tuesday afternoon and overnight.  No significant precip fell Wed, or Thurs, and skies were mostly clear.  There was significant wind mostly out of the SW during the entire period, with gusts into the strong range.  Temps overnight were between -1 and +1 the few nights we were there at valley bottom.  In the high alpine, temps were -5 at coldest during days (plus significant wind chill).  We encountered between 20-40cm of recent snow overlying either rock or summer snow/ ice above about 2300M, below this, the snow tapered away.  Of course with all the wind action, there were spots scoured to ground, and pillows up to 80cm or more in lee or loaded features.  The bond between this fall's snowpack and bare ice, or summer snow, appeared variable, but generally bonding well.  (Test results in the upper end of moderate to very hard).  Of significant concern were windslabs on the surface, which although not widespread, were present in many wind and spindrift loaded features. 

We did trigger a size 1 slab avalanche while ascending the most conservative bottom features of the AA col en route to Mt Athabasca on Thursday AM.  This was in a small spindrift loaded pocket that was around 40 degrees, about 8 meters wide, 15m long, and between 5-30cm deep.  The debris wasnt deep enough to burry someone, but certainly could have carried someone over a cliff, into a crevasse,etc had there been something like that in the runout.  We purposely chose this feature, as it was small, and not committing (ie safe runout) to access the main slopes which had been scoured to rock and scree.  (the guide that triggered it was unroped as it was not required, and took a small 20 m ride before standing up out of the moving debris).

We noticed a size 1.5 slab avalanche below the icefall to the climbers left of the Silverhorn route (likely icefall triggered), and lots of spindrift and sluffing in steep gullies on both Athabasca and Andromeda.  There is lots of ice starting to form in the regular early season spots.  Glacier travel was generally boot top penetration with the odd section to knee deep, and lots of small crevasses getting thinly covered by recent snow and wind.  Definately required carefull rope use, probing and route selection to avoid trouble.  Also of note were a few large cornices left from last winter still hanging in.  Specifically noted were some over the "Practice Gullies", and the A Strain on Andromeda. 

Overall, a couple nice blue days, but challenging conditions between glacier travel and avoiding potetially problematic slopes from an avalanche hazard standpoint.  Hard to reccomend any gully/ coulouir type terrain due to potential for small but nasty wind/ spindrift slabs, or any large committing slopes where loading has occured.  Certainly the Ramp route up Athabasca looked loaded and "plump".

With the precipitation that is forecast, (its raining heavy in Revelstoke), the conditions are likely not getting any easier!

 

Cheers

Jeff Honig

Mountain Guide

www.alpineaddictions.com