Cirrus-Wilson
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Loose Wet, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Loose Wet, Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Storm Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Storm Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Weeping Wall
ski629,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 1:40PM
Lower Polar Circus - Parkway Ice Observations
Visitor Safety from Banff and Jasper climbed on the lower pitches of Polar Circus on Nov. 26th. We found thin ice and open water but reasonable to climb on the easier terrain while still shaded. The pencil was a dagger formed over some old sun-bleached ice and didn't look inviting to be under for long. The upper tiers were "in" and judging by footprints had been climbed but looked more white/brown than they often do... In terms of avalanche conditions, the snowpack is very thin on the climb and we were more concerned about rockfall with solar warming than avalanches. As was our plan, we turned around at the top of the WI 4 pitch.
Generally ice conditions on the SW aspects of the Icefields parkway were marginal for this time of year. The only ice that seemed reasonably formed was on shaded NW aspect gullies (see attached photos). Most of the more solar aspects were either sun baked blobs or wet streaks. Best to stick to shady and high places if looking for ice so far this season!
Parks Canada Visitor Safety,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Weeping Wall Central Pillar - ice
<p>**Parties on Snivelling, Left, Central, and Right.
**It takes a 70m rope to combine P1 + P2 with very little rope to spare.
**P1 had fracturing bulges but generally ok with good pro.
P2 is steeper with a little more sun effect. Ice sports a little more chandelier and featured ice but generally good pro. Getting into the cave has snice covered mushroom climbing. Very little good ice to protect without heavy clearing but the shower is heavy and discourages lingering. Put your hood up at least or a hardshell is nice.
**Cave is roomy but has lots of chandeliered ice. I found decent ice on the right. It extends far behind the Central Pillar curtain, 10m+.
**Its possible to climb the gap of the cave before committing to the face. The lower ice of the pillar was heavily chandeliered and featured meaning it took digging to get screws in good ice. My buddy lead it and figured it improved after a few metres but it was still challenging and definitely worked me over. The shower getting into the cave gives wet climbing on the pillar at times. Take care to watch your feet for breaking mushrooms and ice, while tool placements had some nice sticks between ice features.
**Worth noting that while a 70m rope gets you into the cave, from the cave if you try making the top of the second pillar, you'll likely end up with a hanging stance. Find a sheltered belay before the last pillar and then a third 70m rope length should put you at the top.
**Moving sideways across the ice you'll see a number of wet then dry lines. Gives you the option to find some tacky wet ice at times.
**Beware that the nature of the ice above the pillar leads to copious amounts of ice falling. If you arent at a similar height to parties on the Left/Central lines, you may get hit. There is no way to avoid knocking ice off on the Pillar.</p>
Grant P,
Wednesday 1st February, 2023 9:40PM
Polar Circus
<p>I'm in two minds making this report. I want to share information but do not want to be responsible for 'opening the flood gates'. I feel we had perfect conditions for our climb yesterday.
Wx: Wind was calm throughout the day with a few moderate gusts in the afternoon. Temps hovered around -5C. The sun made an appearance as there was about 30% cloud cover, snow balled up a bit under the crampons during this period but there were no other signs of solar input. (We did see evidence of pin wheeling, minor sluffing from previous days solar input though). There was some avy debris in between several pitches, but there doesn't seem to have been a major avalanche through the route to date.
PC has not seen any recent traffic, we basically broke trail from the road. This added several hours to the climb. In the immediate area of the climb we did not experience any snow instabilities. Although we post holed through .75m snowpack on occasion, there was never any indication the snowpack would slide. 'Turning the pencil' was full on wallowing, I was happy to have some younger legs (JC) put a track in. We utilized an alpines style running belay through this section of the route.
Ice: we solo'd the approach ice, roping up for the last 3 pitches to get above the pencil. We climbed the upper tier in 3 x 70m rope stretchers. Grades went 4-4-5. The ice on these pitches was amazing. We had about 9 raps to get back down.
Car to car we were 14.5 hours. Although this is much longer than the recommended time to be in the throat of this route, we never felt threatened by the weather/changing conditions.
Although we had our 'day' yesterday, I would advise anyone contemplating this route to realize that even when you have everything lined up, things can go wrong. The mountains can change rapidly & my description of conditions is not a green light.</p>
ozman,
Sunday 22nd January, 2023 8:30AM
Mixed Master - Thin Ice
<p>Jasper Visitor Safety climbed the first four pitches of Mixed Master on Dec 16th. The first two pitches are very thin and brittle. The ice on pitch three improves. We didn’t get a chance to see the ice on the last pitch. </p>
snow.safety,
Friday 16th December, 2022 3:40PM
Polar Circus
<p>Don't rappel the pencil right now, it's considering touching down, and you might bring it down on yourself if you do so. We walked around the approach ice, and found the remaining pitches to be good climbing, although generally quite wet. We bailed before the last pitch due to time. It is bone dry and would probably be notably harder than the second to last.</p>
ski629,
Monday 12th December, 2022 9:50AM
Mt Wilson ice / snow
<p>There is a very strong sun crust on slopes that face the sun on Mt Wilson.</p>
tim,
Monday 21st November, 2022 9:30AM