Bighorn

* The drive up through RM House had a little fresh snow but clear roads. Getting to the Nordegg area roads got covered, sometimes deep and wet snow. * Light snow when we parked around 9am and cloudy/foggy. * About 10cm of new snow walking up the ridge above the creek. * Accumulations in the canyon were much deeper. While sometimes it was low similar to the ridge, other places were knee to hip deep for a shortarse. * The new snow hides a few places where you can punch through to holes in the creek that without snow could probably be easily navigated around. Didn't feel like I was going to go for a swim but there are a couple open holes and a few booby traps. **IMPORTANT: Contrary to the book description, which has been transcribed to the app, the avi hazard is not as indicated for the approach. The wording seems to indicate an avi path from the left. It sounds singular and does not identify where it might be found. ++++After new snowfall there are several significant avi slides that fall from above you. ++++ * My observations. The lower canyon prior to the fork had a couple spots where debris accumulated. One of these was from observable slabs just to the right side. The lower canyon is a little less threatened. After the fork, there is a minor slope to the left to be aware of just above the ice step leading into the left fork. The bigger hazard comes from when the upper canyon narrows again. Through this section we encountered several size 1 avalanches that came from above the canyon walls (on both the left AND right sides) and we were unable to see the start zones from our angles. Some of the debris piles were maybe 2-3m deep but may have accumulated from multiple sluffs. Of the slides we saw, none may have completely buried a person but the snow was heavy and may have caught or injured someone below. The hip deep slogging meant it was nearly impossible to move quickly through each impact zone. * I believe we were very close to Lovely Parting Gifts but did not get close enough to see it. The route description left me with the impression that the climb, End Of The Line is not really impacted and that it would be possible to quickly move through the identified avi path on the left. That is wrong and climbers need to be aware of the vastly under stated hazard, especially in the upper canyon, or with recent snowfall. * My partner verbalized his discomfort a couple times and initially we opted to continue. Eventually I dropped the pack in an attempt to move quicker and take a look around the next corner in case I could see either climb (yet another corner though). He apologised a couple times when I agreed to retreat. Despite me believing we were so close, I told him he didn't need to apologise. It is NEVER a "wrong decision" to pull the plug. It may not be fully necessary and we may only have needed to go around another corner but that's not the point. Neither of us were right or wrong, but I hope others can accept sometimes, turning around is what should be done. A lesson I'd like to share. * I'm sure the avalanches were storm snow sluffing from steep accumulation zones, and dropping into the canyon. Maybe the activity will taper off as new snow stops accumulating up there. Remember you cannot see what's up there, and understand you should take full avi gear, including shovel and probe if you are intending going up there in the next couple days. * As we left, the snow had stopped and visibility was clearing. Snacks and bevvies in the car were a good consolation 😂

Winds picking up in the David Thompson region with lots of plumes and transport ongoing. 10cm recent storm snow on the route.

15-20cm of new snow (possibly Friday?) is seemingly isolated to the Elliot climbs. The Saturday climbing party turned around where the approach gully narrows, which had a fair amount new slough and loose dry debris in it. We climbed the first pitch. The canyon also had lots of new dry loose debris. We didn’t love the sun warming the slopes above, in combo with the canyon terrain trap, uncertainty about what lay above us and isolated spin drifts, so turned around. Likely to be a very short lived problem, but the new snow amounts are something to consider if winds pick up or temps rise like some forecasts have modelled.

Conditions on approach to ice climb Kitty Hawk. Lots of snow, not a great time to be there.

Few clouds and calm winds with the occasional light breeze made for a nice day. No new snow overnight. The ice was very brittle, nearly every swing resulted in fracturing or dinner plate. The ice was also completely dry with the exception of the second approach step. We had no issues with the pools of water on the approach. On the drive back we observed loose dry activity (size 1 and sluffing) out of steep rocky terrain and gullies on the peaks next to the Waterfowl Lakes.

Climbed Kitty Hawk and attempted Unicorn today. Ice is cold and brittle with lots of dinner plating, but KH climbed well. Unicorn is missing some ice to complete pitch 1. Very notable wind slabs (10-20cm thickness) below the route and on the approach. No slab avalanches noted, but after about 10am several small stuffs and a size 1 loose dry slide came down off the cliffs on the right wall. Debris in gully, more than several days old.

Had a fun day on Elliot's Left Hand. Ice is thin in spots with rushing water behind. Most swings were into hero ice. Definitely some aerated as well as brittle sections on the crux pitch. The whole climb protected fairly well. Shorter screws (13s) are definitely helpful. Started the day at the car with 5 degrees and low winds. Just as we started rapping more clouds moveed in and some flurries were in the air. Finished around 2:30 to 8 degrees and very light rain at the road. Bowl above looked reasonable (not a crazy amount of snow). Clouds in the morning helped to keep solar input at a minimum. At the moment the bowls go into the shade around 12ish. Snow between pitches felt solid, definitely on the wetter side though. Somebody added 6 stations in the summer (I'm guessing for Canyoneering). A couple of them are in helpful places (top of p.2, one at a big chockstone between p.2 and p.3 for the descent), the rest not really.

Kitty Hawk was actually our back up plan so we approached later than expected. Approach through the trees was easy walking but once you get into the creek its still somewhat stumbly with enough snow to hide some rocks. As you go up the last slopes before the canyon its twice as fast to get up the couple ice steps if you crampon up but if you're stubborn you can grovel in boots like we did. Go for crampons. There is also older debris that could be spindrift accumulation or could be small avi debris. From the road it didn't look to have significant accumulations of snow above the route but the route does get avalanched each winter. The avi bulletin, apparent low snow levels, and lack of winds both below the climb and looking up for telltales seemed acceptable. I saw some cracking in the surface crust in the canyon. As we left I noticed some pinwheeling in the drainage around 4.40pm that either I hadn't noticed approaching earlier Unicorn was not fully formed yet. We had heard Kitty Hawk was very wet a week ago but it was remarkably dry today. The first half of the climb was in decent shape and took protection well. A number pick holes to hook or draft. Some fracturing but not too bad. The upper half was challenging. Perhaps a result of the prior wet condition and flash freezing but below the steeper section were mushrooms leading up to chandeliered steep terrain where getting good screws was compounded by the difficult climbing. Once above the steepest section the climbing remains challenging because despite looking like more solid ice, it gives huge fracturing potential. We both knocked off some significantly sized lumps that it would be extremely dangerous to try being a second party on route.

Left the truck around 830am at +3 degrees out, partial cloud cover, and a good southwesterly wind, with the sun starting to hit the upper reaches at around 930am. Spin drift started around 10am and continued to get more frequent and with more volume till around 11am when the Avalanche came down directly to climbers right of the ice flow while the leader was on the crux pillar. Back to the truck around 1pm at +6 degrees out, with partial cloud cover, and light southwesterly winds.

Looks thin from the road (it is) but the plastic ice up to pitch 3 and the hero ice on pitch 4 made this one climb very nicely. Approached via the left side above the gully to avoid the approach ice. Solo'd the mandatory approach ice in the gully. This was very thin in spots. The bowl above was as free of snow as it can get, I believe. DT Highway is severely lacking snow. No signs of instability or avalanches. The day was calm, cloudy and near zero.

10cm of loose snow at the top of the climb, the terrain above looked below treshold. No wind or evidence of past wind, snow is still sitting on the trees. Ice was good, brittle, dry, aerated on the crux pillar. Good screws were tricky on this part. No water flowing on Kitty Hawk, top of Unicorn has water running. The approach gully is tedious, you need to gear up well before the climb and deal with a few short ice steps, plus crappy, steep side-hilling. Keep right at every fork in the track, a bit of a maze there.