Spent a few days rock climbing with Vic Marchiel and James Flewelling. Weather was generally stable with moderate temperatures. River levels on the Athabasca and Maligne were about as high as I have seen in my decades of climbing here. Some specific venues that are worth noting:

Rainy Day Slabs - Obvious Weakness 5.5 / 5.6. Despite the information online suggesting that the route has been retro bolted with bolts “well spaced”, I would have to strongly disagree. First of all, the bolts used to retro bolt this old route were low grade plated bolts (cheap junk) rather than stainless, which makes them suspect from the outset. But far worse are the fact that many of the upper pitches have only one or two bolts in an entire 30m pitch. This is hardly well spaced. On one pitch you don’t see the first bolt until you are 20m out. I climbing this route in the early 1980s and it hardly seems any better now. The crappy bolts do little to enhance the route. I would suggest giving the route a miss until it gets properly updated. It is now possible to rappel off after completing this route if you have two 60m ropes. Contact me for beta.

Wildlife in the Maligne valley was extensive. Saw numerous elk with massive racks causing mayhem with traffic. Then there was the grizzly sow with three tiny cubs! Follow that with a black bear on the drive back to town.

Morro Bluffs: in normal shape with no issues to report.

Hidden Valley: first part of access trail is deeply under water with no floating logs to dance across as was normal in previous years. This leaves you to wade the pond or go a long way around. Many folks seem to have simply decided to avoid the area until the water level goes down. Fair enough. Please note that twice this year, including yesterday, I have encountered a black bear where the trail branches off after first wall and before the main south wall. Super windy - but high normal for hidden valley.

Shredder Reef and Roche Miette access: the parking lot is blocked by construction so plan accordingly. The access canyon to Shredder is easily negotiated with the water level being normal (low). The routes and upper anchors are all in good shape. Please note that there are three more routes here than are listed in the guidebook. There are now 11 total, all with super shut top anchors making it super easy to play here. Code Blue, which used to be the farthest route left is now the third route from the left. Simple Laceration is the farthest right and is now bolted. It is a 5.5 cruiser.

Many of the front ranges scrambles and climbs have now lost a substantial amount of snow but expect some snow on the descent from Roche a Perdrix if you go into the gullies.

Mount Edith Cavell still looks like it is a month behind in drying out. Didn’t get a visual on Peveril Peak but suspect there is still snow on it. The Colin Range has really dried out in the last few weeks. Might still encounter snow on the descent from Meisner’s Ridge but may be able to avoid it now.

Cyril Shokoples