ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Rockies and Columbia Mountains issued October 19th, 2017

It was a cold and damp day in most parts of the summary region. The precipitation ended on the East slope of the Rockies which is too bad as the southern foothills could really use some rain.

A number of the Parks Canada weather stations in Jasper, Banff, Kootenay and Glacier Parks show around 20-30mm recent precipitation and Bow Summit(Banff Park-2040m) showed 32cm on the ground and Mt Fidelity(Glacier Park-1905m) shows 51cm on the ground. Winds have been continuously strong for several days now so there must be windslabs and cornices forming at treeline and above throughout the ranges. There is certainly enough snow for slab avalanches in the alpine and possibly on smooth terrain at treeline. We have almost no recent observations other than remote weather station data so I think it is safe to say we really don't know what is going on with the alpine snowpack, but we should assume there is an elevated avalanche hazard till the storm ends and we get more info.

Looks like lots of wet rock, rough skiing and almost but not quite formed ice will be on the menu for the next couple of days at least. Time to organize gear, get in shape, practice some skills or go south and uh ya, wait till winter really gets rolling.

Larry Stanier
ACMG Mountain Guide