ACMG MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS SUMMARY FOR THE ROCKIES AND COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS ISSUED JULY 20, 2017

The amazing weather continues. Thunderstorms and some rain in most areas for Thursday night, but mainly sunny through the weekend with good overnight freezes possible.

The big story in the Banff/Kootenay area and numerous other areas in BC are the forest fires, which have prompted some area closures. Check websites for the region you are planning on visiting for developments on these. As well, more than one party has been smoked out of their climbing objective in the Rockies this past week due to air quality.

Conditions in general are quite good and objectives are in typical summer conditions. Glaciers still have good snow coverage over crevasses in higher terrain and with a good freeze are providing fast travel in the AM. Watch for transition areas lower on glaciers where the snow cover turns to ice, and crevasses may be thinly bridged. There is still potential for avalanches in high alpine terrain, but are becoming less frequent as the weeks go on. Likely areas of concern would be those snow slopes high in the alpine which are exposed to larger triggers such as seracs or cornices.

Rock objectives are mainly dry, and people are getting after it from the Rockies to the Bugaboos. The exception being high alpine terrain where any melting snow will generate rockfall.

Hopefully your weekend is smoke free.

Steve Holeczi
ACMG Mountain Guide