Due to the recent flooding in the Bugaboos, Module 2 of the Alpine Guide exam had to relocate to other locations in the Columbia Mountains, with 1 day in Rogers Pass and 2 days in the Gold Range of the Monashees. Weather through the week was good, with mainly clear skies, light westerly winds, and afternoon convective buildup on the 18-19 before the high pressure system settled in fully.

Rogers Pass: On August 18, groups climbed the NW Ridge of Sir Donald, the W Ridge of Tupper and the S Ridge (1896 Route) of Mt Rogers. All ridges are fully dry and in good shape, with plenty of water available up to the bivy sites. The S Face of Mt Rogers is holding snow above the bergschrund around 2800m.

Gold Range: We flew into the Frigg Cirque of the Gold Range on August 19, and climbed routes on August 20-21 before hiking out in the evening of the 21st. Groups climbed Mt Munin via the Goldilocks Traverse and N Ridge, Mt Hugin via the NE Ridge and N Face, Mt Odin and Mt Mjolnir each via their E Ridges, and attempted the W Face (Friggsaw Puzzle) on the main Frigg Tower. Beta for these routes can be found on Alex Geary’s website at https://gearysguiding.com/frigg-cirque/. We established camp on slabs near Moonshadow Lake around 2200m (50.5493°N, -118.0834°E).

Glaciers in the area are holding snow on north aspects above 2600m, but are otherwise dry. The bergschrund on the north face of Hugin is currently still passable. Ridges are in reasonably good shape with expected amounts of loose rock on otherwise good blocky gneiss. We fixed up rappel anchors to descend Hugin and Munin. We would recommend the NE Ridge of Hugin and the E Ridge of Mjolnir to future parties in this area.

The hiking access from the Pingston Creek drainage has recently been greatly improved with Herculean effort by a local climber with a chainsaw, but is still steep, bushy and would take a fit party 3-4 hours with a heavy pack.

Nick Baggaley, on behalf of the 2025 Alpine Guide candidates and examiners