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Avalanche Observations

3 days on the Columbia

Spent 2 nights up on the Columbia just below Snowdome Friday - Sunday. Ascended Friday through icefall 1 hard climbers left with a short boot pack following an existing skin/bootpack track then continued hard climbers left on the edge of the moraine to icefall 2. Crossed back onto icefall 2 then up the climbers left ramp to make it to the ramp between 2 & 3. A lot of serac fall across the ramp between 2 & 3 then ascended ramp 3. As we reached the top of the ramp through icefall 3 we came across the crevasse fall incident and supported. A good reminder how long it can take to get an unroped, injured skier out of a crevasse (3+ hrs with Parks Rescue support) and how critical being able to keep both the person who has fallen & those helping warm (eg. put on all jackets & gloves as soon as you start the rescue and if you are camping having a stove and being able to boil hot water for a Nalgene hot water bottle. Also hand heat packs under armpits / groin). Friday was cold & windy to start then warmed up quick, freezing level rose to at least 2900m with evidence of a melt/refreeze of surface snow up to where we camped. Wind picked up again around 3pm and stayed strong until early Sunday morning. Poor visibility and strong winds all day Saturday. Managed to summit Snowdome in the afternoon, good coverage and travel conditions but again skied fully roped up based on vis and Friday's incident. Saturday overnight winds calmed and ~15cm+ of new snow fell up on the icefield. Significantly less snow on the icefall the lower you got and none evident on the Athabasca toe. Descended the upper ramp then second ramp to skiers left off the glacier to avoid the first icefall. Evidence of sun warming upper slopes on both sides (Fri & Sun) of the valley with some wet loose on the climbers right on Friday and fresh snow loose slides coming down climbers left Sunday. One bigger powder cloud hit the Athabasca toe from climbers left side (unsure where it came off) around 11am and made it half way across the glacier. Sunday was intermittent visibility in the morning as we descended. Descended roped up after the crevasse incident Friday and all tracks filled in with the fresh snow and wind. The open crevasse is now pretty well hidden with the fresh snow & wind but is located to the skiers left of a small bump at the top of the skiers left side of the ramp. Descended the ramp on icefall 3 cautiously roped up side slipping in low vis, crossed the bench between 2&3 under the serac debris then took the skiers right ramp down icefall 2 to the bench between 1&2, skinned across to the edge of the glacier on skiers left then skied down bypassing icefall 1 to the moraines & toe. Travel down the toe was fast and seamless unroped. During the incident we probed heavily around the area above the crevasse and found it to be very holey. It was very challenging to find a 10x10 section of ice for the heli to land. Snow bridges varied between ~150-250cm in this zone and held out for the rescue and our decent but would be very cautious around this convexity at the top of the last ramp onto the icefield. One highlight on Sunday was seeing a Wolverine come frolicking down from Snowdome in the fresh snow!
Briony Williamson, Monday 21st April, 2025 10:00AM