[MCR] Rockies, Lake O'Hara July 30th, 2015

Still some snow hanging in up high at 5pm around O'Hara. Nice day but somewhat cool with a NW breeze.

Hungabee looks way too snowy for now at least. Huber ledges are dry, Victoria should be good but frosty. Grassi ridge is dry. Lefroy looks terrible. Glacier peak is pretty dry and looks unpleasantly bony. Biddle is probably dry and climbable. Cathedral and Odaray are in good shape.

Somewhat surprisingly, I turned around at the bergschrund on Opabin pass today. There is a nasty little crevasse with a paper thin bridge in the center and scree over ice on the sides above where the crevasse is passable. Where it is passable, I just couldn't justify how long we would be exposed to falling rock while under Biddle or Opabin peak with a large, slow group in the midday heat . It would be scruffy but fine to ascend it on either side with cool conditions if you were good on your feet. I would probably choose to ascend or descend it just slightly skiers right of the little bluff 10m above the schrund. I would guess there is probably a nasty little schrund on the Tokkum glacier side now too but I haven't been there recently.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide
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