Hello!

I guided a trip up the Perren route to the Neil Colgan hut (Sep. 28-29). The Perren route had roughly 10cm snow with a few icy spots here and there. The Fay glacier had an avg. HS of 30cm, except in lee features like below the NE facing slope of Mt. Little where HS was roughly 1m. Alpine winds were consistently from the NE in the moderate to strong range. Lots of snow transport happening. Of note were, 1) the new snow wind slabs that were forming/formed, 2) the thin/weak bridging over crevasses that were hard to spot, and 3) the cold winter temps. Long story short, winter is here and so is the avalanche season.

We ended up leaving a bit of gear (30m rope and some draws) on the traverse pitch of the Perren route due to time constraints and challenging conditions. Not sure when I’ll be back to retrieve it but feel free to keep it as booty if you beat me to it.

Have a great fall!

Patrick Lindsay
Ridgeline Guiding Services
Owner/ACMG Alpine Guide
(403) 679-9665