during the continued hot summer weather of early July.
There was no overnight freeze during this time, July 4th was the
coolest morning.
Having spent many of the July long weekends in this area over the
last 12 years, it is beyond any doubt that the 2015 season has the
least amount of snow on the glaciers that I have seen.
It would also seem that though the water levels are somewhat high,
they are much lower than would be expected for this time of year,
considering the recent.hot weather.
The toe of the glacier above Bow hut is mostly ice with a few patches
of snow on the right side that still allow snow travel to the "Onion
skin height of land".
You can still gain the left side of St Nicholas on snow, however this
area is getting shallow and will probably melt out in the next week
or so requiring a bit more zig zagging.
A party that climbed Mt. Olive on July 2nd reported the col on the
west side of Olive-St Nicholas is showing signs of open crevasses in
the flats along with shallow areas of snowpack.
There is an old large slab on the S face of Mt Collie, and the ramp
leading to the high col looks very broken up. (This is probably good
to note with the expected increased travel to this area with the hut going in)
Our group climbed Mt Olive and St Nicholas on July 3rd.
Of note was there is no cornice left on the summit of Mt Olive.
We climbed Mt Gordon on July 4th. We used a ramp that leads from the
high point of snow near the Onion skin, and follows a ramp that leads
towards Mt Gordon. Though this route is a bit longer than going
straight up and over to Mt Gordon, it has less crevasses and seems to
hold the snow well. A few sags on Mt Gordon were probed, but
solid, and cooler conditions gave good travel up and down.
The small tarn near the summit of Mt Gordon was very impressive. With
the warm temperatures (and whatever else is at work here) it has
formed in an almost perfect ellipse.
Peter Amann
Mountain Guide
Peter Amann
Mountain Guide
www.incentre.net/pamann/
