News of Canada and Alaska

I'm heading out to Banff for Spring break (March 27 to April 3) to go snowboarding. Now I know there's plenty of ice climbing around, but the people I'm travelling with have never ice climbed so unfortunately we won't be ice climbing. With that in mind, I would like to get in a bit of climbing, hiking, or scrambling of some sort, but I'm unsure what the area is like this time of year for ...

Christine Feret is off on the first female winter attempt on Denali
http://explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=19129

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Winter-Mc ... 7514235359

What peaks have few routes on them? I would love to get in a first ascent somewhere class IV or V. Some ice, and one night bivy. Any ideas?

Can anyone recommend a good book that would have route information for Athabasca, Victoria, and other Canadian Rocky Mountains? Heading up there late July. Also looking for partners in case anyone's interested.

So California was way below normal for snow totals until January, and now the mountains have plenty of snow. Same story for Utah, further inland. However, Colorado and the Cascades near Seattle are still quite dry, meaning that in those areas, snow and glacier climbs need to be done much earlier this year. There are definitely some highly varied winter conditions in North America this year!

What have snowfalls been like in Jasper so far? ...

I'm looking for information on the Wrangell-St.Elias area. Anyone out there an expert on Mt. Bona?

Thoughts/Suggestions/Comments - Thanks

Heading to Ruth Gorge, Alaska in May, wondering what advantages and disadvantages to both. I figure less luggage with snow shoes compared to skis. Any thoughts?

Hi,
Sorry this topic has probably been beaten to death, but I did some search and only found one opinion (could be subjective to weather and personal body heat variables). My burning question is whether the Marmot 8000M parka and 8000M pants would be an overkill for Denali in end of May/June. TIA!

any one have any ideas on this?? Just in my general observations the weather seems a little all over the place this year. How are things faring up in AK??? Anyone know of any good weather web sites to keep tabs on the mountain weather around the Denali area???
any help is much appreciated..
cheers

I'm thinking about heading out to the Canadian Rockies this summer to do a bunch of technical routes in the AI3 and 5.7-5.8 range. If possible, I'd like to take the opportunity to try doing my first Grade IV route.

The routes that seem within my level are: N Face of Robson and E Ridge of Temple. Are there other IV routes no harder than AI3 and 5.7-5.8 I should be considering?

From a casual ...