Dry conditions in the Central Selkirks

Vincent Lauzon and I plus 8 participant of an intro to mountaineering program travelled in the upper Asulkan Valley over the past 3 days. Photos included show both weak crevasse bridges, and lots of bare glacier ice. Our attempt to travel up to Sapphire Col and Castor Peak involved climbing glacier ice up to 40 deg and was stymied by open and weakly bridged crevasses where we attempted to step onto the upper part of the Asulkan Glacier. Naturally occuring rockfall was observed several times every day of our trip occurring out of steep glacier terrain where rocks were meliting out of the ice.
We also observed one large grizzly travelling down from Asulkan Pass and into the valley.
Great days in the mountains however challenging and hazardous conditions do exist due to hot temperatures and a lack of snow cover below 2600m.