We spent the past few days climbing and mountaineering around the Catamount Glacier in the Purcell Mountains. We didn’t have a thermometer, but it was the hottest weather we’ve ever experienced in the alpine (40 degrees driving up the FSR).

Road:
A high clearance vehicle was nice for the ruts in a few places and a short flooded section of road about 2 feet deep.

Water:
The creeks were raging and required some good log balancing skills to cross one of them in the valley bottom (photo attached). Some of the approach trail at valley bottom was also flooded. There was running water everywhere except ridges in the alpine.

Snow:
We encountered our first snow patch (old avalanche debris) right out of the parking lot at 1730m. Above 2000m most gully features were full of snow with good step kicking. The vast majority of snow we traveled on was no more than ankle deep, although above 2800m it was mid-thigh deep isothermal snow in many areas so we tried to stay on the rock.

Rock:
All ridge features in the alpine were free of snow, and steep rock faces were mostly dry with only the odd small patch of snow. The granite was good quality, although there seemed to be more black lichen than I’ve seen in other areas, often adding some extra difficulties to the climbing.

Glaciers:
The North Face of Gwendoline Mountain had a couple of large ice patches, as did Mt Stockdale. There were a few significant patches of bare ice lower down on the Catamount Glacier as well (see photo). We did not see any open crevasses big enough to fall into in our area, but there were a few significant sags we avoided.

We would like to acknowledge that we were traveling on the traditional territories of Sn̓ʕay̓čkstx tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ, Secwepemcúl’ecw and Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis Nations.

Enjoy the cooler temperatures forecast and abundance of blooming Alpine Jacobs Ladder!

Alex Geary (Mountain Guide)
Madeleine Martin-Preney (Ski Guide, Hiking Guide)