Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains

Apologies for the late Summary.

Summer was back today with a warm overnight tempered somewhat by a good freeze/clear skies.

From my observations most of the recent light snow along the Rockies divide has melted.

The lingering winter snow is still the driving factor in getting and choosing good conditions. As an example, I climbed Mt Odaray at O'Hara today and had great sunrise snow conditions on the glacier and up a gully-both deep snowpack areas. Then we transitioned to a bit of dry rock climbing-very nice-then up a rocky 38 degree slope that still has some mostly shallow snow on it. It was in marginal shape at 6:30 am and was in full sun. We took a long and somewhat painful detour around the backside of Little Odaray as I couldn't justify down climbing that slope with shallow wet snow cover or being on the rappels directly below it. I imagine the deep snow on the glacier would still have been in excellent condition.

Alpine rock routes with no snow and glaciers with snow are the gifts right now. Enjoy them, summer isn't over yet!

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide