Climbing Conditions

Climbing Conditions

Hi All,

Our Guides have been busy through the last few weeks on a variety of Alpine and Rock Climbing objectives and we thought we'd pass on a bit of what we've seen out there in a few of the more popular venues we work. Overall the snow and ice objectives are in outstanding shape, along with the high south facing alpine rock objectives being in good shape as well. Observations are from a variety of our Guiding Staff and submitted collectively here.

-- Castle Mountain - Eisenhower Tower & Brewers Buttress --

We've been up these routes a number of times over the past 3 weeks. Eisenhower is mainly dry along the climbing lines (both left and right) with the bowl feature at the junction of the two lines holding enough snow and water not to worry about filling your bottles down low. The climbing is pretty much same old', with the rock dry and route in good shape.

Brewers Buttress was dry and in good shape through the pitched climbing, however the north facing slopes from the top out to descent gully when we were there last, were still holding more than a meter of snow in places and on the verge of being unnerving in the afternoon heat. The descent gully is/was still holding a lot of snow, and again, coming down later in the afternoon would probably not be the greatest idea if you can avoid it. On our most recent descent we had nearly wall to wall snow, and for the most part was quite challenging to find a line that wasn't isothermal, and where the snow had more depth and strength to it allowing for better and safer travel.

1 of our groups spent the night at the hut, which seems to be in good shape, and has at least 4 green propane bottles up there as of our last visit. Traversing the Goat Plateau from the Hut to our climbing routes still had enough snow a week ago that it would have been nice to have an ice axe for the traverse. I'd suspect though, as I sit here in 30C heat in Canmore today that will have changed since we were there last.

There won't be any issues with available water for the foreseeable future at the hut given all the snow in the descent gully.

http://cloudnineguides.com/climb-castle-mountain

-- Mount Louis Kain Route --

Simon Meis Guided an ascent of the Kain Route on Mount Louis, Saturday June 17th, with the help of practicum Nino Guagliano. Here's a few obs from his trip up:

"The approach trail has many fallen trees to crawl over, under or around. As you pass under Mount Edith there is evidence of some spectacular early spring avalanches! Several portions of the trail are still buried in frozen debris and piles of broken off trees must be negotiated. There was also lots of bear droppings and diggings evident on the trail.

The route is in fine shape with only a couple of easily avoided patches of snow remaining. The Perren crack is currently in a "bolt free" phase. There are bolts at the anchors, and a few fixed pins, but a bit more rock gear is required to protect the head wall.

The rappel route is nearly snow free. There was water running in the rappel gully and we got a few refreshing showers as we ran the wet ropes through our rappel devices. On the descent trail, again, the remaining snow patches could be avoided."

-- Mount Fay & The Neil Colgan Hut --

We had a group ascend Mount Fay this past weekend via the Chouinard Route on the North Face. With a bit of trepidation about running the trip earlier in the season than we normally would, we did actually find the best conditions we've ever encountered in what's been maybe the last ~10 years or so.

Myself and Benjamin Paradis who joined me as a practicum (and did most of the heavy lifting), followed the Perren Route to access the hut. Conditions were fast and easier than normal despite the excess snow and generally early season conditions. Snow that we did encounter was almost perfect neve each day we were out. Good freezes overnight, with 4am temps around -4C gave extremely fast and supportive travel on ascents of both Mount Fay and Mount Little. Coverage on the glacier below the hut and peaks is quite good, well settled and linear with only a few of the biggest crevasses starting to have their bridges sag. Uncomplicated glacier travel made it a quick trip up to the hut in about 35-40min from the toe of the ice.

The Chouinard Route is one I have now only guided twice, and generally feel like the stars have to align a bit to make it happen. We climbed a left hand line both on and along the serac, finishing in a narrow section of the ridge where the cornice had pinched closed leaving an easier (but steep) exit protected by a few marginal ice screws. The bergschrund was easily past by climbing up a pyramid of spindrift debris bridging the hole - just a walk over with no real climbing needed. The cornicing over the right side of the route, and further into the Center Ice Bulge Direct is substantial enough I wouldn't have been all that comfy being there myself. Cornicing above the left side of the Chouinard were smaller, more infrequent along the ridge crest and presented less direct threat to our line. That said, we were still climbing a serac under cornices, so no illusions we certainly stuck our necks out a bit - we moved fast when we had to, and given conditions felt as a team that the risks were acceptable.

We descended the West Ridge along with a few soon to be Apprentice Alpine Guides, training for an upcoming exam. The route is holding more snow than usual, and the normal line of ascent is obscured by the snow making the more travelled lines through the rubble less obvious. That said, where there was snow, the travel was faster which was nice.

Snowface which exits the ridge giving access to glacier below the west ridge was too deep to dig for ice anchors on descent, but we were lucky enough that given the snow quality, a small snow bollard and a fixed piton anchor were enough to get us down the face quickly without leaving any gear behind.

Despite the exceptional snow conditions during our trip, I might consider bringing up companion rescue gear if I was heading up this week as it warms up. There's still a lot of snow, and despite the really amazing conditions we experienced, I think my confidence might not be as strong this week with the warmer temps.

Mount Little climbed well from the Hut on our 3rd and last day. Fast cramponing right off the back door of the hut to the ridgecrest, and the ridge climbed more easily than usual, walking and shortroping on good neve for what was probably about 2/3'rds of the ridge to the summit. It's in easier condition than usual right now.

http://cloudnineguides.com/climb-mount-fay

-- Mount Athabasca Regular North Face Route --

Another report from one of our Mountain Guides in the Field this week:

"I guided two fit young fellows from New York up the North Face route on Athabasca, Thursday, June 22nd.

It was a cool day, with occasional graupel storms. The upper mountain stayed in the clouds most of the day, receiving little sun. It was 2 degrees at 3:00am when we left the campground. The glacier travel was very good.

Crevasses are still well covered, although some sags are beginning to show. We encountered a firm, well frozen surface which made for fast travel. Occasionally, we encountered areas of drifted new snow, with boot top foot penetration.

The bergshrund was well filled in by sluffing and we easily walked across directly under the route. Once on the face, the first couple anchors were made in snow. Above this I could dig to find ice screw belays and protection. Generally the climbing consisted of 10 - 30 cm of old snow on ice.

The ice below the crux pitch was thin or nonexistent so I built the belay quite low, resulting in the crux pitch being about 50m long. The crux pitch was covered with a froth of ice and snow. This had to be tediously cleaned to find pick placements, buried pitons and a couple of cam placements. Continuous spindrift added ambiance to the pitch. Above the crux good ice provided a nice belay.

A final pitch of ice and steep snow lead to the summit. Unfortunately the Polaroid camera we dragged along stopped working some time during the ascent.
In general I thought the snow travel and the route overall was in good shape, but the crux pitch would be much easier and more straightforward when it is drier."

http://cloudnineguides.com/climb-mount-athabasca

--

Hope it's a great week out there for everyone, we'll be into the Bugaboos back to the Icefields and back up to Abbott Pass again in the coming week. Will do our best to get an update out there.

For those interested, you can follow us on Instagram for trip photos and conditions updates on a near daily basis - www.instagram.com/cloudnineguides

All the best,

Mike Trehearne
IFMGA Moutain Guide
www.cloudnineguides.com

On The Map

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.