Regional Summaries

There have seldom been such widespread good conditions for August in recent memory. In the past week, I have climbed glacier routes, alpine rock, and been hiking. Everything was in good shape.

WEATHER
The only fly in the ointment has been some fickle weather. Although there has been some sun and warmth, especially at lower elevations, there have also been showers and low freezing levels which have given dustings of snow to the peaks.

The coming week looks promising for the most part.

The past few weeks have flown by at an exhilarating pace as mountain enthusiasts have enjoyed alpine conditions at their finest. Long, hot days for weeks with only occasional cloudy disturbances have given us the "green light" for many objectives and have made anything feel possible and, even, probable as we've stretched our legs, lengthened our strides and basked in the glory mountain pursuits provide. Last winter's prodigious snowfall still lingers at lower-than-usual elevations and has, so far, kept the glaciers in relatively easy conditions.

Summer is trying to make an appearance but the Rocky and Columbia Mountains are still snowier than normal for this time of year.

WEATHER
Despite the snowy tops, the weather has been more summery in the past week. Valley bottom temperatures over the last few days have reached the high 20s in the Rockies and warmer than that in the interior. This hasn't always translated into balmy temps up high though, today I had to layer up on a Kananaskis summit.

It doesn't quite feel like summer yet in the Rocky and Columbia Mountains.

WEATHER
About a week ago we had significant amounts of precipitation, most of which fell as snow above 2500 m. Since then it has been a mix of weather with a little bit of everything.

One constant has been inaccurate weather forecasts - not that I blame weather forecasters for this. The nature of the recent patterns mean predicting the timing of the systems that come through has been difficult. It sounds as if this trend could continue.