Spent June 16-18 based out of the Neil Colgan hut. We accessed it via the Perren route and climbed Mt Fay West Ridge and Mt Bowlen. We had to persevere through wet rock and isothermal snow patches low on the route, but higher up we found good early season conditions with plenty of snow cover making some things easier than normal and some harder.

The Fay glacier is entirely snow covered with 50-200cm + snowpack. All of the north facing gullies on Fay are snow covered with cornices lingering above. We witnessed one of these cornices collapse on our way out on Tuesday morning. Snow conditions were good with a good freeze early Monday morning but isolated wallowing in thinner and steeper areas as the crust broke down.

Rain and lightning early Tuesday morning had us bailing from our plan to climb Mt Little but the snow was still mostly supportive on lower angle terrain even without a freeze.

A deep slab down to ice on the north face of Quadra is a good reminder of the avalanche potential that may still be lingering in some areas.

Beautiful few days in the hills!

Ian Jackson
ACMG Mountain Guide
Canmore, AB