jmckay

Kathy, Will and I spent Dec 29-31 wandering about the Wapta Icefield. Over the trip winds were generally moderate from the west, with strong winds at ridgetops on Dec 30. Moderate snow transport at ridgetop most of the time. Max of -6 at Bow Lake Dec 29, minimum -15 at Olive/St Nick col Dec 29. -9.5 at Bow Hut the morning of Dec 31. Regular flurries left a few cm of new snow over the trip. Visibility varied from obscured to broken. Approach to Bow Hut is as per my post for Little Crowfoot a few days ago. Up on the ice we saw about 2 m of snow at around 2700 m at the head of the Bow Glacier, with deeper snowpacks at higher elevations in sheltered areas. The light was never very good but it seemed that the icefield was quite smooth with few visible crevasses. Ski penetration was generally ankle deep, minimal wind effect in the most recent snowfalls although with probing it seemed there was a 40cm thick wind slab atop a thin weakness, beneath the 10-15cm soft surface snow layers. Cornices are large. On the 30th poor visibility, loading winds, occasionally intense flurries, suspected large cornices and unknown crevasse difficulties created too many "ifs" for us to go from Balfour Hut over the Balfour High Col to Scott Duncan. I like to have good visibility or a Low to Moderate Danger rating (or, better yet, both) to consider committing to that place. We had neither so we climbed Olive on the way back to Bow that day. Good skiing on the Bow Glacier on Dec 30 and 31. Lots of people though. The only avalanche activity we saw was exiting on Dec 31. A large size 2 had run sometime in the previous 24 hours in the path beyond the end of Bow Lake, on the south flank of Mt Jimmy Simpson. It came out of steep, unskiable cliffs and gullies to the right of the waterfalls. It was a slab, about 40cm thick, initiating on a steep slope in the lee of a ridge at treeline and cleaning out the cliffs below. It ran about 2/3 of the fan in the runout zone. I'm also pretty sure I heard a sizeable avalanche off Olive during the wind event of Dec 30, but couldn't see it in poor visibility. I rated the Danger as Considerable in the alpine and treeline and Low below treeline, throughout the trip. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide mark@alpinism.com www.alpinism.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. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

Up the Illecillewaet, through Lookout Col and down the Asulkan. -7 air temp. 15-25 cm on the Dec 26 crust. Pretty good skiing overall, with the feel of crust on the skis at the bottom of the turns. Rained on and frozen avalanche debris in the bottom of the bowl on the Asulkan side of the Col, with just enough fresh snow to cover some of the smaller chunks. Some cracking in the storm snow on the Dec 26 crust on the ascent, and I ski cut a size 0.5 avalanche on the crust, about halfway down the first steep slope out of Lookout Col . See profile attached for the science behind the skiing. Profile on the north side, skied the south side. The keg of beer on a sled being hauled into the Wheeler Hut, encountered right at the last icy descent into the Asulkan parking lot, was definitely the biggest hazard of the day. Party on! Jordy Shepherd

Actually Scott I doubt that anybody can actually judge conditions better then you. A park public safety warden (who worked at Sunwapta for 9 years [in public safety]) and I discussed your adventure. Under the present conditions we figured that it was not that bad of an objective. That windward slope that you camped close to most likely has little or no snow on it. The Avy hazard in the KYLL zone (Kootenay, Yoho, Lake Louise) was higher at the time. Most naturals were associated with wind-loaded gullies and lee slopes. Trying to picture what the upper section might like just before you get to the flats (below the west ridge) but would have to be there to make that call. Those little windward gullies could have some funk as they often hold snow. I might join in the roast session if you had tried the north glacier ramp route. (It is not a practical way to get to the N face as your retort seems to indicate.) It would be safe to say I have climbed the mountain from that side better the 30 times under all sorts of conditions and don’t think it is as bad as folks are indicating. I have also used those single wall bivi tents in the CND Rockies quite a bit in winter even camped on a cornice at 11,000’ in Feb. If I had a choice I might not have done that but I didn’t. Not familiar with BD version (used Bibler and Integral) but weight is such a big factor. The way that people are talking you would think that you were in the middle of nowhere. Retreat is pretty straightforward from that basin. I heard that there was a party in trying to climb Forbes right now. Now there is Darwinism at it’s finest. Hopefully they are from your neck of the woods 9 and post a trip report) and I can join in on the roast.

He might have a shred of dignity left guys. CANADIAN NATIONAL PARKS TO THE RESCUE

We thrashed our way up and down to treeline on Mt. Field on Thursday Dec. 29. Absolutely terrible travelling with collapsing crust over facets, impenetrable alder in the slidepath and a mess of downed timber and thickets in the trees. The travel got better in the open near treeline but was very scary with continuous whoomphing as a buried SH layer collapsed underfoot . In a pit on a north facing slope where there was continuous fog while the SH formed during the middle of November, the collapsing layer (Nov 26) is down about 60 cm in a 110 HS. It measures 15-20mm and is very well preserved: CTE 5-10 sudden collapse and RB3 on a 25 degree slope. Also observed was a thin twin SH layer about 35 down (Dec 19th) that would also give clean shears but not until after the lower layer had failed. The October crust was still present at the bottom of the pit but produced no consistent results. This snowpack sounds much more similar to the interior. It is the first pit where we have observed the Nov 26 SH the Rockies since mid December as it has more or less facetted away on the east side of the divide. Brad White UIAGM/ACMG Mountain Guide (See attached file: MtField SH 20051229.jpg)?_______________________________________________ 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. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information. CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK WARDENS TO THE RESCUE

After spending the past week custodianing at the Wheeler Hut I'm in Revelstoke now, watching Rohan and the Van Bibby children and drying out for the day while Deb and Kim shred the Dome.... To add to Scott's post, I was up and over Lookout Notch yesterday and noted a strong rain crust, 7 cm thick, beneath 23 cm of storm snow at 2100 m, NE asp. This crust was still noted at the col (2250?) and probably goes substantially higher. Below the crust is moist snow from the rain we had over the weekend. As Scott mentioned, it holds well down to about treeline, and in open areas (i.e. the avalanche path down to the Mousetrap) to about 1650 m. Below the crust there are still fast shears in the moderate range on the storm interface (Dec 19 facets) and Nov 25 facets. Air temp was -7 C at 2100 m, 13:00, so the crust might get stronger in the next day or two. More snow is in the forecast in small-mod quantities with freezing levels below 1200 m. Widespread avalanches sz 1-3 noted on all aspects from the weekend rain storm. Regards, Tom Wolfe

Here are a few shots of the area so you can continue to roast this poor bastard. I would jump to his side with the "experience from poor judgement" or some such thing but he is day trader so he's on his own.

I was up at Rogers Pass after an extended sabbatical due to a cold – timing was good as my recovery seems to be corresponding with a return to good ski quality and reasonable stability. Basically there is a variable thickness/hardness rain crust that carries skiers (at least on my Mega Bangs 92mm. underfoot) with 20-25 cms. of loose new snow overlying it after last nights snow fall – the crust tapers off at around 8,000ft.(give or take a bit) – it is weakest just below treeline and fairly strong in the alpine. This is just enough snow to make for good skiing today though it is a little tricky just above the mousetrap. Not tons of natural activity in the valley (some deposits in the mousetrap from the creek sidewalls) and things seem pretty tightened up with the cold weather – though the crust is fairly strong I am guessing that if you did something stupid it would still propagate through it into the deeper weakness – but basically appears to be bridging the lower weakness for now. It settled in again this evening as I left and was snowing by the time night fell – 10-15 more would be quite nice. Safe holidays and have a merry New Year, Scott Davis

Hello, Dec.27 Climbed Rogan's Gulley. The ice is dry and in good shape. There is very little snow in the gulley so there is lots of easy ice to climb. There is also little snow above the route to worry about. Dec.28 Climbed The Urs Hole. It is also in good shape but has a lot more snow above it to think about. Both finishes are in. Jesse de Montigny Assistant Rock Guide Assistant Ski Guide Joe ] I personally would be writing off URS for the rest of the season, but that is me

Dec 28 - attempted the loop today; turned back at the base of the "crux" slope from the Haig glacier up to the Robertson / Sir Douglas col. Was hoping to see that slope blown mostly clean by yesterday's strong to extreme winds, unfortunately it is still 95% snow covered. As far as I dared investigate at the bottom I found 50+ cm of soft new snow, hard to say how much snow is on the upper slope. Average HS (height of snow) on the upper French is 120 - 150 cm, on the Haig 200cm. No new avalanche activity noted, most fractures lines from the last few days have reloaded. Fair quality skiing on the French. Happy New Year Rob Orvig IFMGA Mountain Guide

12/27: Junkyards on a balmy day: Surprisingly dry and most everything is in, except the curtain right below the little tree. 12/28: Professors: In spite of morning temps of -4C the first and second tier were spewing water. We walked around it. All other pitches offered dry lines (see Patrick’s report yesterday) with the last pitch being a bit more on the wet side again. 12/28: Coire Dubh: Some visiting European guides reported good and very dry conditions. They found the initial ice pitches very brittle and they didn’t use crampons from the first rock pitch (dihedral) on. Cheers, Jorg Wilz Mountain Guide www.ontopmountaineering.com

Just North of Lake Louise Dave, Jeff, Andy and I skied up to the toe of the Little Crowfoot (Ferris) Glacier today. This is the glacier to the south of Bow Hut, with Crowfoot Mountain to the east and "Vulture" Peak to the west. Wx: No precipitation, max -9, min -10, high thin overcast with valley fog and fog on the Wapta icefield, calm all day, 2 cm new snow overnight and 10-15 cm storm snow from the previous several days. No avalanche activity noted. Below treeline all the way through the canyon there isn't enough snow to avalanche. Just below treeline this changes and there is about 50-75 cm of snow, the mid-pack is weak and you punch through it about 50% of the time both up and down, into the weak facets beneath. The mid-pack slab here doesn't seem to have a lot of tension in it and there were no whumpfs. Once in the moraines, the wind got to the snowpack before the most recent storm leaving a hard layer that supports a skier. About 10 cm of soft storm snow lies on top of that. On the bottom are the ubiquitous facets. This combination resulted in loud whumpfs all the way through the moraines, every 10 or 20 meters. So we stayed on terrain less than 30 degrees and away from any large slopes above. Our late start necessitated a descent from the toe of the glacier rather than going onto the glacier and summitting Little Crowfoot peak. I would have been leery of going straight up the steep toe of the glacier, it's less steep at the easternmost edge of it. Excellent ski quality to treeline, with the fluff on top of the hard surface. Once in the trees it wasn't very good, we broke through the mid-pack into the weak snow near the ground. Lots of small rocks to dodge on the way out. I rated the Danger as Considerable in the alpine, Moderate at treeline, Low below treeline. Mark Klassen Mountain Guide mark@alpinism.com www.alpinism.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. Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.

truth be known is that I got the idea from Joe "Fuckin" Josephson. It was one of the two times we may have climbed together when he twisted up a piece of #6 mechanics wire and did that with the end of the wire. (The same principal works with a sling I thought)Now I actually carry a piece of #6 wire covered with duck tape near the top of most my tools. It is always there. If people ask what the duct tape is for I tell them it is to hold the head of the on. After all I am CANADIAN!

try it Chris and compare.

Being cheap is not always a bad thing. Yeh it would cut spectra just fine. About 5 years ago we had an accident where a meter or two of sling hung out after the water knot. This was on selenium (Spray River Falls in the Josephson guidebook) the original Abalokov was buried in fresh water ice . The newly formed ice also buried the tail of extra sling material. The climbers who were not new to the game must of mistaken the piece of webbing that was not buried as the focal point of abalakov. In retrospect I can see how this could happen. There was a lot of dead air around the coffee shop the next morning as many of us wondered how many times we did the same thing. Native kids in Rogers Pass

Ween them in slowly. I am waiting to get more stock on/in Adult Diapers. Once I have a majority share I will release ICE PORN then Bill Gates will be working for me. The truth be known it has been years sience I climbed the PORN and still about once a week I wake up screaming covered in cold sweat. So many things could have gone wrong on that climb I know for certian that I used up all nine of my lives and borrowed about four that didn't belong to me. I have been thinking about getting proffessional help. It seems like I can no longer use my powers for good. Lord knows I try but it just comes out being evil. If you think they are ready perhaps we could repost the route description and photos. We just finished ICE PORN THE MOVIE makes "Sin City" look like the Simpsons. You know these folks better then me I've never lived in a rain forest.

ooohhh! Scary!!!!

How to cut a sling without a knife. You ever find yourself on a big icefall and have to built a Abalakov (Ice hour Glass). It is about then that you realise that “Bear Killer” your blade is either in your pack or stuck in the back of your best friend. To poor or too cheap too to leave a whole 5 meters of sling or Prussik cord. Here is how I cut a sling quicker than you can rummage threw the 22 pockets in the five layers of clothing you have on. Take your ice tool (two hammers work best so best borrow your buddies hammer if your not climbing with two) place the tool in the ice so that it is sunk to the hilt and won’t wobble around. Pick out that piece of material that needs cutting Lay the material over the edge of the hammer Whack said material good and hard 3 or 4 times in the same place (repeat as necessary)

Tie a sheep shank? Cut the rope up before your tempted to use it and call it a $200 lesson. Keep all petroluem products and battery stuff (cables) out of range of your climbing gear. The other rules are cool, dry, dark, no cement floors for extended periods, etc, etc.. You must have fucked the brains out of Ed's old lady for him to be giving you advice like that. "Come on out my West Coast Ice Fodder I'm waiting"

written in 2002/alpine spam #6 I believe Slipstream: The route has seen some traffic the last little while. It would be reasonably safe to extrapolate (but a dumb thing to count on) the above snow pack to slipstream as they are similar elevations and aspects. Looking through binoculars it would seem that the route is in the best shape it has been in years. Objective hazards on this route are extreme to say the least. The lower part of the route is exposed to falling ice by as many as three or four gullies. I phoned up a friend ...(lets call him “Paul” just because anybody who knows me, knows I wouldn’t hang around with somebody with a stupid name like “Paul” That seems like a safe name to use)... so I phone up “Paul” and ask him if he wanted to do slipstream. “Don’t do slipstream” says Paul. No hesitation in his voice. Says he would feel pretty stupid at the Pearly Gates if he got killed. I explained to him that the reason wouldn’t be “Slip Stream” that they didn’t let him in, it would be because of all the “stupid shit” he done earlier. Slipstream was just the cherry on the sundae. I explained how good the conditions were. Had him wavering but in the end common sense prevailed. Apparently he had a cross word puzzle that was giving him some trouble and he felt he needed to get that done first. I can respect that. I also have decided that I have better things to do with my time than hang out under some ice cap soloing endless miles of grade three ice only to get slowed down by solid grade 4 pitch's. And if I did survive the quicksand and mortar shells I could count on a long, long night out on a wind swept glacier at –20 finding out that there are “worse things than dieing”. Having said that I would take a serious look at the route description. It is more of a high end mountaineering objective. Just because you don't break a sweat on the "French Maid" doesn't mean this route is for you. Be honest with yourself. Would you recognize a mid pack instability if it stared you in the face, you prepared for a open bivi on the glacier at 10,000 feet with -20 temps and some wind. If you answered yes to any of these, have good look at the things you love the most ..that nagging wife... the ugly kids with the milkman's eyes ... your goldfish...your right hand... Whatever it is that makes it worth getting up in the morning, if you want to keep that routine going you may not want to do “Slipstream”. If your doing the route to make a name for yourself you will. On the second page of the Calgary Herald. Slipstream has probably killed more climbers than all the other ice routes combined!! Written in 2002 but still applies.

Alpine Spam # 7 December 15th 2002 How to build an Abalakov (without your back country abortion kit) This is a trick that I find myself doing more and more as I tend to forget to bring all the bells and whistles. At one point in time I never went anywhere without my bent up clothes hanger wire, of course I was stealing cars full time then and it seemed only prudent to be prepared should opportunity come knocking. These days I am much less likely to be caring anything specific for retrieving Abalakov ( ul bee bac en off ) threads. This is especially true in the summer alpine environment. This technique really doesn’t require any special skill. I am not going to provide a whole micro detail plan here. As I see it there is only one way that this can be done with the equipment I am allowing. Materials needed: One Sewn sling (spectra or whatever) 1 meter or more of 7mm perlon cord. Drill Abalakov so that you get a near perfect intersection. Over drill the second hole so that the core is at least 2 or 3 cm’s past the intersection. Fold sewn sling in two. Push the loop down one hole stop when the tip of the loop just gets past the intersection. Be sure that your sling is facing the right way. It is possible to turn it slightly once you have inserted sewn sling. Take 7mm perlon and push it down the second hole so that it not only intersects the sewn sling but goes beyond into the over drilled part. Tug slightly on the sewn sling (like you have a fish nibbling on a bait hook) Be sure to feed a little extra 7 mil into the second core to reduce resistance. Pull on the sewn sling “like you were pulling a skier off your sister” The end of the 7 mil should come flying out. This is not near so bad as it sounds as far as finicky fishing goes. I have only done this with sewn sling and Perlon. It may be possible to do this with different material. Thailand Rock

Lifted from parks site. This is going to remain till temps cool so if you coming out here over the holidays keep this in mind We definitely stepped into HIGH avalanche danger today. Widespread natural avalanche activity is occurring. Moderate to strong southwest winds have created new slabs, 20-40 cm thick. Most of the slides reported are up to size 2 on all aspects in the alpine and at treeline. If the terrain allows for it, some fracture lines have propagated up to 80 m wide. Slabs are failing on the old snow surface, the November rain crust, or have stepped down past the old hard slab to the weak depth hoar at the base of the snowpack. For the last 24 hours it has been drizzling rain up to treeline. Most gullies are running with wet snow avalanches. All of the ice climbs in the Field area have debris in them and continue to run with wet avalanches. Time to stay out of avalanche terrain until temperatures cool and the snowpack has time to adjust. Parks canada Native kids climbing in Rogers Pass

posted a bit more detail on a recent accident. Climbing can be dangerous. I personally have made so many mistakes over the years that I am lucky to be alive. The worst of them were made in the first year or two when I was young and dumb and full of ***. I know of a half dozen fused ankles on some really hot climbers. I have a few dead friends. Getting proper instruction before getting to crazy is important I think. Be progressive about your adventures. Personally I seldom test my metal anymore but still enjoy the experience tha climbing can bring. Photos and such are on the frontpage of mountainguide.com Larger pics and detailed report of Guiness accident Dec 20/05

Located on the Alberta BC border. This is one of the nicest places I have ever worked. Great terrain and well managed lodge. I included a few photos of the area. and a slideshow link. a relay from Dave B. at Mistaya Lodge, Recent storm snow accumulation 30cm as of this morning, temps hovering near zero. Winds in the valley strong and variable, mountain tops have been obscured for the past few days. Heavy trail breaking, ski pen to mid calf/knee depth.Mistaya Lodge Slide Show