[MCR] Rockies; Red Man Soars ice climb

We climbed Red Man Soars today in K Country. The route is in excellent shape and ice is quite plentiful in the necessary places. The approach still has some open water but it is easy to avoid. There was close to 10cm of new snow by 3pm this afternoon, but very little wind in the canyon. Good fast travel on the road with skis and blue wax.

Whiteman's looks to be in solid grade 6 shape and still quite wet. The route let out several deep, settlement cracking sounds today which certainly caught our attention.

Lilla Molnar
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.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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[MCR] Rockies, Spray River Falls

I guided an ascent of Spray River Falls today, Jan 6th. The route is in great shape, big and blue, with some water running on all pitches, but lots of dry ice too. There is a good hard pack trail, and preserved line of up steps, leading to the climb. Several surface sloughs to size 1 (large enough to bury your dog, but not you) in the dry cold surface snow (facets -dry sugar-like snow).

A fine day on a grand route.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures
www.yamnuska.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] Louise Falls, Rockies

Hi all,

I guided an ascent of Louise Falls today January 6th. We enjoyed milder temperatures ranging from -9.0C to -5.0C and overcast skies. We were pretty lucky and had the climb to ourselves. The route is in good early conditions with two large pillars touching down on the steeper head-wall. We climbed the left pillar as it was both easier and drier. The difficulty on this section felt like grade 4+ or 5-. The ice was overall still very hard from the recent cold spell and required extra work to get good tool placements.  Ice protection was excellent without to much digging, a few 10cm ice screws were useful on the final thinner section. All the bolted anchors encoutered are in good shape. We opted for the walk off which had seen little traffic and provided good traction. Of note, there's a few threatening looking hanging daggers along the top of the main curtain which could be of concerns with big temperature swings. Lots of surface water running however, it was easy to stay dry.

Happy climbing!

David Lussier

acmg mountain guide

http://summitmountainguides.com/

[MCR] Mount Field ski ascent, Rockies

Hi all,

I guided a ski ascent to the main summit of Mount Field today January 5th. We had broken to overcast sky conditions, temperatures ranging from -14.0C to -7.0C and light winds form the southwest. There was a trace of new snow overnight and traveling conditions were excellent with a 10-20 cm ski penetration. There was minor wind effect in the alpine predominantly above 2300m. Ski quality was good above 2300m and excellent below. We saw evidence of previous surface hoar growth to 20mm below treeline tapering to 4mm at 2000m. We measured and average of 150cm of snow at treeline. The upper 40cm was quite faceted and loose but still supportive and skiing well. We saw no new avalanche and no signs of instability. A test profile at 2300m on a northeast aspect showed no significant results. There was a fair amount of traffic in this area over the holidays however, there was plenty of room to ski un-tracked snow all the way back down. 

Pretty awesome conditions for early January in the Rockies!

Cheers,

David Lussier

acmg mountain guide

http://summitmountainguides.com/

[MCR] Rockies: Vermillion Peak

We skied on east and west aspects between 1400 and 2600 m on Vermillion Peak today. Of note were the temperatures:

0845, 1400 m, -27

0930, 1700 m, -15

1030, 2000 m, -8

1145, 2300 m, +1

1230, 2600 m, -3

1600, 1400 m, -18

An interesting above freezing layer sandwiched between colder air. If you are in the cold valley the cornices and snowy cliffs high above you may be baking.

We didn't see any avalanche activity but snow surfaces on the west aspect were moist in the afternoon.

The regular uptrack beside the avalanche path was hard and slippery and felt like 5.9 slab climbing a lot of the time! The regular ski line is moguls. The skiing in the burnt forest to the side is very good but regrowth below 1800 m is still thick with the shallow snowpack we have right now.

Mark Klassen

ACMG-IFMGA Mountain Guide

Alpinism | » Revelstoke Long Weekend

[MCR] Bourgeau Right and Left

Happy New Year,

I climbed approximately 3/4 of Bourgeau Right today with an old friend.  Temperature in the parking lot this morning was -20.0 at 0630.  We climbed to the top of Pitch 5.

Leading up to our turn around time we felt OK with the temps and solar input and then rather quickly, did not.  At 1200 the impact from the sun made us uncomfortable.  We began the rappels and were at the base in one hour and we witnessed 3 size 1.0 loose dry/wet avalanches as we were descending, one dusted us at the base of the crux pitch and the other two ran on either side of main ice flow but filtered into the main catchment on the approach.  Another party that was below us initially bailed as well after they saw us retreat.

We had companion avalanche rescue gear (probes, shovels and beacons) with us today because of the complexity of the terrain but also in spite of the Low hazard rating for Banff National Park.  

Incidentally, another very experienced party on Bourgeau Left today bailed at the top of the 3rd pitch on account of the solar heating.  They saw no avalanche activity on their outing but were relieved when they got off the route and got out of the line of fire.

Watch the day time heating out there in the afternoon this weekend on steep, south facing avalanche terrain or better yet avoid it altogether until the warmer temperatures aloft subside.

Best Regards,

Paddy Jerome

ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide 

(C) 403 609 0795

[MCR] Assiniboine area

Happy New Year all.

Hanging around at Assiniboine lodge with family and thought it would be good to report on current local conditions.

Sunny skies and cold clear weather with temperatures dipping to -29 at night and -17 day at the lodge 2050m. Surface hoar up to size 20mm has been building all around us at the same elevation. Upon skiing above the lodge 2150m and higher there was a drastic inversion up to -4. No surface hoar was observed on North or South aspects up there. But we only observed a small area.

There is an unusually supportive snowpack for this time of year at this location. Travel is still good but facets are getting bigger.

Olivia Sofer, ACMG ASG
Thomas Grandi, ACMG ASG
Sepp Renner, ACMG MG

Olivia Sofer
www.wildtrips.ca


_______________________________________________
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.