Chinook-a-thon
I was up in Waterton today, and it was incredible!! (see the above picture for conditions) All the ice is gone off the compound gullies. I can't imagine there is even an icecicle left on the Cameron Highway. People are reporting that the parking lot at Cameron lake is completely bare. So what should you do this weekend?
While a rock route up the hump is sure tempting, perhaps this would be a perfect time to take a drive up the Chief Mountain Highway. I don't know of another year where one was able to drive all the way up to the border at this time of year. As you can see in the picture below (taken Jan 28th 2005), the road is bare. I was tempted to pull out the kayak and go for a shallow trip down the upper belly. With the sun low on the horizon, views up into Michewabum are great. Perhaps a hike up into Belly River is in order.
Well, perhpas we will have to see about that. I may end up heading up the ridge just north of yarrow, or wandering down to Augusta. I guess we will see!
posted by chris g @ 1/28/2005 06:18:00 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Well I ended up trying to go skiing down at east glacier. The snow line is quite high. I really didn't hit continuous snow until just before cobalt lake. The road was open all the way to trick falls. There are a number of ice climbs that look like they would normally be in shape this time of year. One is on the ridge just south of trick falls. It is aobut 30m. Another is on the mountain just before the falls. It looks to be about 50m. Then there are a number of excellent alpine lines in front of the upper lake. Unfortunately my camera died by the time I got to the base. I'll see if I can't do a post on them in a couple of days.
The Logan's pass road was bare as expected. I doubt they have snow until you get up near Siyeh Creek!
I took the normally closed road from Two Medicine up over to the Kiowa campground. There were a fair number of rocks on the road, but it was quite driveable. All in all, a very weird year. Surprisingly enough though, the snowpack up at Akamina pass is only at half the seasonal average. I guess there must be snow some where.
Posted by chris goble
Chris,
On your drive down to East Glacier, did you glance up the road to Many Glacier? I was thinking about heading over there to look for some ice and was wondering if that road was dry as well? Wouldn't mind seeing those pictures if you can revive your camera.
Climbed on the west side of the park in Snyder Basin this weekend. There's still some ice, but not much. Brian Stem was a 2m diameter pillar. The surface had the consitency of a snow cone, but there was good ice underneath.
I was wondering....does this warm weather and the Waterton ice fest have any thing in common? The Chinook gods must not approve.
Cheers.
Posted by Rob Hagler
On Saturday Dave and i headed up onto the Wapta Icefields to do Mt. Baker via Peyto Lake. The ski from the highway down to the lake was worth your life. The snow has a crust on it from the warm temps that isn't quite strong enough to hold a skier so you never know for sure wether or not your ski's are going to turn. Although there is still lots of ice on the lake itself it has been scoured clean from the wind and sun so skiing across on ice was interesting. But even at 9000' the skiing was nothing to rave about. As far as ice climbing goes, the parkway is where it's at right now but i don't know if they have the highway open north of Saskatchewan Crossing yet.
On Sunday Jessica, Jeff and myself went to Waterton and climbed Cusak's up to the lookout. It was awesome. The rock was warm and the temp was good until the last pitch just before the lookout where the wind finally hit us and started to cool things off.
Posted by Blair Piggot
Rob, the road to Many Glacier will be crystal clear all the way to the last hotel. Unfortunately they close the gate at the start of the lake! So, bring your bike for the approach. However, checking out the basins there could mean finding some nice gems.
I doubt any south facing ice is in shape. Things in the front range are quite dry. With the temps going up again this week, I don't know how certain I would be of finding ice anywhere. Rock, yes, kayaking, yes, ice....
I will see if I can put up the pictures later today. I have to have a look at a map to see where things really are. The alpine routes at upper two medicine look to be quite nice.
Posted by Anonymous
Sorry I missed you there Blair. I ended up headin back early because I am a wimp and didn't feel like hiking up a dry road all the way to the Logan's Pass. I think this week I may take off kayaing. The rivers are really coming up. I was thinking of the upper belly if it was ever sunny.
What's the plan for this weekend? Top of the world for skiing, Lusier and what ever else? Waterton for scrambling or rock?
Posted by chris goble
I'm hoping to take Friday off work and head up to the Wapta with Dave again. I might just stay up there and go do some ice on Saturday and Sunday possibly head up to Wall Lake and check out Midnite Madness or Midnite Cowboy.
Posted by Blair Piggot
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