[MCR] Snivelling Gully

To echo Marco's note on the sun, we dodged some hangfire today as well.  Nothing as big as what he endured, but enough to have us turn around.  We started on Weeping Wall left, but eventually traversed over to Snivelling Gully.  The sun was packing a punch and soon many snow mushrooms were releasing along with some icicles. Nothing really big, but enough to push a leader off and gain more mass on its way.

Seems like the cold and clear nights along with the later heat of the sun is creating some bullet proof ice in the mornings too!

 

Sarah Hueniken
ACMG Alpine Guide
www.sarahhueniken.com

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[MCR] Rockies- Bow Summit neighbourhood Jan 3rd, 2012

Been skiing a little bit south, west and north of Bow Summit in the past few days. Snowpack generally feels good but it's ski quality and strength continues to deteriorate in the cold temperatures and recent winds.

Today in shallow snowpack areas North of Bow Summit, ski penetration was variable from HARD crust in the open alpine to skis almost to the ground in sheltered areas below treeline. Loose surface snow (Surface hoar and facets) below treeline may be a future weak layer. The nasty wind will at least have beaten up this surface layer in some of the open treeline and alpine.

No Chinook along the divide today and it was darn COLD in the shade and downflowing air.

Worked well today going downhill to watch for the ripples and avoid the chalky looking snow surface.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide
laristan@telus.net



_______________________________________________
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.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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[MCR] Kitty Hawk

I attempted Kitty Hawk today, with one of my strongest guest. I was up high relatively early, did the approach in the dark so I couldn't tell what the upper bowl looked like. With a 70 meter rope I did one pitch so I tucked away underneath the overhang well protected beside the crux pitch. I was just considering on retreating due to warmer temps. A huge avalanche flew over us ( size 2 to 2.5), 20 minutes later one more flew above us. The second one we were tucked away at the base of the 1st pitch. We retreated real fast leaving two ropes and a screw. Just like Barry Mentioned in his last post despite the Moderate to Lo hazard rating, the sun is quite strong. At the car it looked like there is still enough snow to come down with the right trigger.

If anyone decides to go climb it when the conditions changes a bottle of scotch or beer if I get my gear back. (cell--403-609-1074)

Off tomorrow to some place with no avalanche hazard.
Cheers,
Marco Delesalle
Mountain Guide
www.greatdividemountaineering.com












_______________________________________________
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.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
See http://informalex.org/subscribe.shtml#unsubscribe to remove your name from this list.

[MCR] Mt Kidd Ice Routes, Kananaskis Country

A few photos from the Mt Kidd area taken on Jan 3rd/2012

Public Safety Program
Kananaskis Country, AB

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[MCR] Wapta Traverse (Bow to Sherbrooke)

Hello

Spent 2 days skiing over the Wapta Icefield from Bow Lake to Sherbrooke Lake with a night at the Balfour hut a couple of days ago.  

Coverage on the glaciers ranged from 120-200+cms and there was extensive wind effect in the Balfour Pass area with pockets of hard slabs.  The route up the high col has one crevasse crossing to deal with currently but it is over a sizeable snow bridge and was straightforward.  

Little to no wind effect on the Daly glacier and up to 20cm ski penetration.  The exit across Mt Niles was simple but the snowpack thinned out substantially once you entered the forest and most of the creeks were open requiring a bit of navigation to get through.  Sherbrooke Lake had a spooky layer of slush on the top 4 inches...we walked on the shore. 

Have fun!  

 

Mike Stuart

Mountain Guide

[MCR] Weeping Wall & Ice T - Rockies

Hi Everyone,

Steve Holeczi and I made an attempt on Ice T in the Upper Weeping Wall area yesterday only to find the ice had become very dry and detached from the rock.  We backed off the final pitch after it cracked all the way across while climbing it.

We reached the upper wall via Snivelling Gully which was for the most part quite hollow sounding and had a few open water sections.  It was climbable but we had to be cautious with our micro route finding.  The  Weeping Wall itself was mostly very wet with a few dry looking lines and the Weeping Pillar (upper weeping wall) although big, looked like it would be very challenging due to wet, unconsolidated conditions.

All the best,

Marc Piché

ACMG/IFMGA 

Mountain Guide
marcp3@telus.net

[MCR] Southern Purcells

Hi,

A few friends and I spent a cool and clear New Year's day ski touring in the southern Purcells about 40 km west of Kimberley. We skied at elevations from 1500 m to 2500 m.

The most notable thing about the day was the strong winds out of the northwest. In the past day or so these winds have transformed the alpine; it is now a very variable mix of soft slab, hard slab, and sastrugi. There was intense snow transport happening all day; this caused rapid snow loading of nearby lee areas at the top end of the treeline elevation band (around 2200 m). This loading caused a natural avalanche cycle of size 1 and 2 slab avalanches on smaller terrain features. The slab thicknesses varied from 10cm to 60cm, with widths of up to 60 m. We observed perhaps 15 of these windslabs that had failed within the past 12 hours, and we also witnessed one and ski cut another. We did not see any avalanches failing in larger terrain features.

>From 2200 m to 200m the snow was mildly wind affected in exposed areas, with facetting in the top 20 cm. Surface hoar to about 10 mm in size was observed in most places below 2000 m.

After retreating from higher elevations due to the wind and poor skiing conditions we found some excellent facetted powder in the trees lower down. Besides the recent windslabs there were no other instabilities found in the snowpack. There was intermittent valley fog hanging around at about 1800 m throughout the day.

A great day in the mountains to start the year!

Jeff Volp
Ski Guide
Kimberley, BC