ACMG MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS SUMMARY FOR THE ROCKIES AND COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS ISSUED JULY 27, 2017

With a sunny and clear forecast for the weekend, things are about as good as they get for many alpine climbing routes. In general dry rock is present on all aspects, snow coverage remains good on most higher elevation glaciers, and so far the snow travel has stayed good early in the morning. This is a good time to go after bigger summer objectives.

Things to be cautious of over the next few days will be more rapidly deteriorating snow conditions if the overnight freezing levels stay high (i.e. smoky skies), snow melt induced rockfall with the warm temperatures even early in the morning, the potential for cornice failures with the continued heat, and the rising snowline slowly weakening crevasse bridges and exposing more bare ice. It is also worth watching for late afternoon thundershowers, though at this point the forecasts look clear.

Some key bits of beta for a few popular routes are as follows: The Mt Gimil descent is reportedly dry enough to avoid all snow patches, the West Face bypass on Sir Donald is almost snow free but requires care to navigate a few snow patches, the glacier ridge to the summit of Mt Temple is still all snow, the W face of Lefroy is melting out quickly, Mt Joffre is still a snow climb, and the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col remains in good shape for snow travel.

Headlamps are starting to be useful tools again so throw in fresh batteries, bring lots of water, and have a great weekend in the mountains!

Conrad Janzen
ACMG Mountain Guide