Regional Summaries

What happened? Just two weeks ago it was sunny and warm; now it is full-on winter. The Rockies have just come out of -20C or colder temperatures which was a major shock to the system. On the avalanche front, the Parks Canada and Kananaskis forecasting agencies have started publishing bulletins as conditions change (www.avalanche.ca). The skiing has reportedly been variable as one would expect, and plenty of people are getting good data points to verify that!

The snow is slowly starting to accumulate up high and a few smears of ice are starting to form in cold, shaded areas, but we are still waiting for winter to really begin.

The snowline in the Banff and Kananaskis areas dropped down to about 1800 m today. The valley bottoms remain relatively snow free, but still harbor some snow from last week's storms in shaded areas. A similar story is found in the Southern Rockies and throughout most of the Columbia mountains with current snow levels down into treeline.

The drought continues, with no end in sight. Expect dry conditions on all objectives with snow, ice, and glacier routes continuing to have rough conditions.

WEATHER
No precipitation is forecast over the next week for anywhere in the Rockies or Columbias. There should be overnight freezes in all areas. This stunning fall will continue and it is hard to complain, except that it hasn't really rained since...June?!? I can't really remember.

CONDITIONS
Dry. That means great hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing once it warms up mid-morning.

The Rocky and Columbia mountains are extremely dry for this time of year. There are some residual snow patches on glaciers, but for the most part, they are bare ice which will make your ankles scream. Only a trace of the snow from a week ago is left on North aspects. Exposed rock is sitting on many of the steep ice faces from a long summer of heat. Recent MCR posts from the Bugaboo/Snowpatch col and flights across the Rockies show that it is as dry as it gets.