We are returning tonight from the Neil Colgan Hut and an ascent of Mount Little tonight. Poor weather, warming and loose-wet avalanches, likely to trigger and running to size 2.0 all had our attention. Thankfully, with some delicate terrain choices, the teams were still able to summit Mount Little during the trip.

June 21st:
As we approached the hut, big thunder clouds were developing into the afternoon with increased rain by 1700hrs. The river crossing at the end of Moraine Lake was straightforward with low water levels making for an easy crossing. The lower Perren approach is in excellent condition. The (snow) moat which usually lives at the bottom of the first, and easisest of the approach pitches, was very thin, deep and undercut and required real caution accessing the rock climbing. Above these pitches the scree slope leading up to the 3 pitches which access the glacier ice, was snow covered and unsupportive with exposed rock avaialble on both climbers left and right sides. Boot penetration on the snow was upwards of knee deep so we chose to move out to climbers left and the exposed rock to manage the concerns relating to snow stability.

Above this the 5.6 chain pitch just below the glacier was dry and climbed well, as well as the traverse pitch. The ledge beyond the traverse pitch was snow and ice covered, but has rock exposed on either side allowing for easier, more surefooted travel.

The last pitch leading to the glacier above was climbed easily on steep snow most of the way up the pitch, the gully pitch protected by the single bolt halfway up seemed reasonable as well.

Crossing the glacier toward the hut, the snowpack was 120cm+ consistently with on average 50cm boot penetration, or only semi-uncomfortable postholing. The upper snow pack was completely devoid of strength, saturated, or at best VERY moist. The day prior saw rain to summit level, and by the time of our passing through, a loose wet avalanche cycle was definitley happening. We chose to take the "low road" below Mount Bowlen and limit as much as possible our exposure to the slopes above on Mount Little (see photo).

June 22nd
No overnight freeze and +2˚C at 3am at the Neil Colgan Hut. With AM solar radiation and PM forecasted rain, we decided to give Mt. Fay a miss as the slopes had not yet by that point avalanched. We felt that a loose/wet avalanche to size 2.0 could likely have materialized given the conditions. We climbed Mt. Little and made it back to the hut before we got hit hard by a storm burst of hale and rain. While doing some instructional work around the hut, around 4pm we witnessed a 1.5 loose wet come off Mt.Little be side the hut (see photo on our blog). The point releases were gathering a lot of mass consisted of very heavy, saturated snow, and gave some validation we'd made the right call giving Mount Fay a miss. I would guess that Mt. Fay should be in good condition in the coming week as the expected weather and subsequent conditions should flush out the access slopes/faces quite nicely.

June 23rd.
Being 0 degrees at 0545hrs at the hut, we had pleasant travel as we started our descent at 730am on a semi supportive crust crossing the glacier.
WX hit us again in the morning while on the walk from the lower scree slopes to Morain Lake. Given visibility it's hard to say how much snow may have accumulated up high, though likely not much given the morning temperatures.

Photos on our blog @ www.cloudnineguides.com/blog/mtfay-neilcolgan-conditions-june21-23

Mike Trehearne
IFMGA Mountain Guide
Cloud Nine Guides Inc.
www.cloudnineguides.com