Climbed the east ridge of Edith Cavell with two clients today. A reasonable, yet unpredictable weather pattern around Jasper has had found early afternoon thundershowers, clearing overnight, and valley fog pretty consistently through the immediate Jasper region.
We left the parking lot at 3am. It was 8 degrees. The snow field to the col was rock hard and we stayed on the scree and rock to avoid using crampons. Found the rock to be reasonably dry on route despite over night rain. There was a considerable amount of seasonal snow still on route but it's mostly avoidable and, more then knee deep when not. Stayed mostly on rock over the summit ridge, just didn't trust the hanging snow plus, it didn't freeze overnight; at least not well enough to support my heft! 1 degree at 945 at the summit with a cool light NW wind, frosty and slippery rock in shaded areas above 3100m which is consistent with forecasted freezing levels.
The ice field on the west face which is often problematic is avoidable by exiting off the ridge above the ice (move quick, high rockfall hazard area) to access the decent of the west ridge via the scramble route. Good water refill near the bottom of the scramble, before the meadow. Contacts in Parks Canada have let me know that the bear activity is high in both the East and West sides of Cavell; especially and the Astoria Trail. New bear digs in the west meadow (Verdant Pass) and scat on Astoria trail. Bear spray could be worth its light weight! Just sayin'!

Deryl Kelly AAG
Rockaboo Mountain Adventures
Jasper.