ACMG Mountain Conditions Summary for the Coast Mountains issued June 29th 2017

This is the first weekly summary for conditions in the Coast Mountains this summer.

The weather has been warm and sunny for more than a week now, and is supposed to remain in a stable pattern for the foreseeable future in the southern part of the range (the far northern part looking a bit unsettled).

In general there seems to be more snow than usual hanging around up high for this time of year, with lots of snow on glaciers to cover crevasses and extending down a few hundred meters below tree-line (gaiters have been useful lately even below treeline). There have been several rescues in the North Shore Mountains recently with hikers being unprepared for snow covered trails.

Foot travel conditions on snow in the alpine lately have been excellent to poor, depending on whether or not the surface has frozen overnight. Excellent corn skiing/snowboarding was reported yesterday in the Tantalus Range, and there have also been many other skiers and snowboarders still getting after it in the past couple of weeks around Sky Pilot Mountain and Cerise Creek (the sun cups are still small).

Large very steep glaciated features in the alpine may still have the potential for deep persistent slab avalanches with solar and daytime warming. Eg. This cornice triggered slab on Mt Matier earlier this week (definitely worth clicking on the link below, and a video can also be found on Instagram):
https://www.mountainconditions.com/reports/deep-slab
This is the only recent report I’ve heard of, but there is evidence of similar avalanches from a few weeks ago and it’s probably not an isolated event. Of course sluffing of the surface snow is is also a concern, which could entrain enough snow to bury someone in the wrong feature, or take you over a cliff.

Many cornices have already melted back and disappeared, but there are also still some very big ones around on larger features that seem like they might fall if you look at them long enough (see example above). There are also a lot of snow covered rock slabs out there with glide cracks still waiting to release.

Further north in the mountains around the Bulkley Valley and west of there to about Terrace, conditions sound similar to the south, with no deep persistent slabs observed.

With the exception of northerly aspects, many of the steeper alpine rock routes are dry and in good shape. However, it’s still early season so you can expect to find snow patches on ledges with the potential for natural rockfall. I’ve personally got up as early as 11:45pm this month to try and minimize the hazards from rockfall, cornices and avalanches.

Please check the Squamish Access Society’s website for Falcon closures before making rock climbing plans:
http://squamishaccess.ca/2017-falcon-closure/
Calculus Crack and Rock On are amongst the popular classics currently closed (The closure for the Squamish Buttress and Butt Light has been lifted). The nesting activity seems to be unusual this year.

Enjoy the lovely weather while it lasts!

Alex Geary
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide