I spent three days on the Columbia Ice field, we summited Snow Dome.

Above 2600 meters the HS was 300 cm +. We experience high wind and up to 20 cm HST during this time period between Friday and Sunday (July 3 to July 5th).

In the evening of Saturday, the sun got out a bit creating point release on the western aspects.

As we left Sunday morning very early, we could feel a thick melt/freeze crust up to 2800 meters. Above that, you could feel a breakable wind crust.

Foot pen was anywhere from ankle deep to knee deep.

Around 10:00 AM on Sunday as we were doing crevasse rescue on hard ice on the Athabasca glacier, the sun was starting to shine on the East face of Snow Dome; big icefall and loose avalanches were going off.

Fred Amyot
ACMG/UIAGM Mountain Guide