Mt Hector 2013

Saturday March 9th, 2013 Mt. Hector 3394m

Synopsis: 4 stars out of 5, a 1600 metre ski ascent followed by a 50 metre scramble with unbelievable views.

Darcy and I had attempted Hector several years ago on May 9th and had a bit of an epic, compounded by isothermal snow and some suspect decision making. I was keen for another go at it, definitely earlier in the year. We set the date aside and during the week before it appeared that there was going to be an ideal convergence of stable avy hazard, clear blue sky and a weekend!  

The usual suspects; Andrew, Brenda and I, met at Laggan's at 6 am only to find that their website lied and they didn't open until 7. Fortunately, I scarfed a egg mcmuffin on the drive from Canmore but Andrew and Brenda were forced to go without. Thinking we were lucky if that was the worst of it we carried on and found the parking spot easily, got ready and headed out at 6:40 am. Perfect timing as it was just getting light enough not to need a headlamp.

It was 15 below C in the parking lot, so a little cool for those from west of the rockies. Fortunately it made for a hard pack trail on the way in and easy climbing. There was one other guided party on the route that left about the same time we did.

There were a few kick turns up towards the waterfall area however we were fortunate in the snow pack was sufficient and crampons weren't really needed. Once past this area we picked our way around some rocks and up to a bench with a view. 

We were pretty much following a highway at this point as there was definitely a fair amount of traffic since the previous dump a week before.  At 9 am after gaining roughly 650 metres, we finally popped over a ridge into the sun.  Ah warmth!

There was some obvious avalanche activity on south facing slopes from the week before.  From here you turn southwards and climb a longer slope to get close to little Hector.  I remember this as being the biggest avy hazard of the trip however it wasn't really a concern, we were more worried about the bases of our skis!

There was a lot of evidence of the strong winds we heard about the previous week but they weren't really an issue (yet).  

Once we gained the slopes in front of Little Hector (complete with quite the cornice!) we choose to climb up on the climbers left of a moraine.  It was a bit of a gamble however definitely the safety play given the slopes above and paid off nicely.

We descended the moraine onto the toe of the glacier and put the rope on. It was 10:30 am and we had gained just over 900 metres. Although the sun was shining, there was really no impact on the snow. Tracks faded away on the glacier but with boot top snow the trail breaking wasn't bad. (I think, as I was enjoying things at the back of the line, the joys of being the heaviest of the group!)

Once on the glacier you start to appreciate just how far you have to go.  A beautiful setting however I must admit I spent more time looking at my ski tips than anything else.

The guided party caught up about now and we started to play America's Cup racing as we both set out to find the easiest way up to gain a slight advantage.  Eventually in the bowl just before the headwall they stopped for lunch and we overtook them.

By this time we were in shirts and baseball caps, partially due to the extra work as the slope angle increased. I took a bit of a turn breaking trail close to the top and with a healthy slab set up it was a bit of work. It was starting to feel like a long day, however the views back were spectacular!

We gained the col at 1:30 pm, totally unprepared for the change in temperature and wind. The wind was blasting through as we all struggled to get all of our warm clothing back on and then set up for the scramble up top. To add to the mayhem I realized that I hadn't adjusted my crampons to fit my ski boots so was busy readjusting with numb fingers.  The spin drift off the top was something to behold.

The guided party caught up and was first up the scramble, another party of three caught up but elected to climb the "skiers" summit across the way.  

Andrew scrambled up and gave us a hip belay through the tricky bits and soon we were on top.  Very windy but fantastic views. With all the fiddle farting it took us an hour from the col, but it was totally worth it. While on the way up, we met the guided party descending. The client was particular pleased, but nearing the end of his rope.

I had a friend, David, leading an ACC trip into Balfour hut and it was great to look over and see most of their route. Between the breeze and cold we didn't stay on top long and couldn't wait to get back on the skis.

Once on the skis and down out of the wind we stopped for a long lunch in the sun. Ski quality wasn't fantastic as there was a bit of a crust, but it was good to be going downhill! I pondered the results of pulling my skins in a hurricane!

We pulled the skins at 3 pm and were back at the car at 5.  As mentioned, the ski quality wasn't great and it did get pretty isothermal at the bottom with some evidence of new slides down low.

In the end it was a 10 hour day complete with 1650 metres of elevation gain, some exercise for sure but a great day on a classic peak with great company!

Wapta 2013

Feb 22nd - 24th, Attempt of the mini-Wapta Traverse

Synopsis: 5 stars out of 5, a great stretch of above treeline skiing with new discoveries all made easier with huts.

A great plan was hatched, Steve had last been to the Bow Hut in 1988 and Marni hadn't been on the traverse in 25 years, D was lucky enough to go across 2 years ago and I hadn't been past the Olive/St Nick col.  We booked huts for the mini traverse, Bow, Balfour and Scott Duncan, prayed to the weather gods and made meal plans.

The four of us pulled into the closed Num-ti-jah Lodge parking lot just before 11 am after dropping a car off at the Great Divide Lodge.  After getting our gear organized and shouldering the pigs, wine is amazingly heavy, we were off across the lake at about 11:30.  Yes, one member of the team was in leather tele boots however I spent a good deal of the weekend trying to keep up!

The trail up to the Bow Hut was pretty packed which made for fast travel and we stopped at the end of the trees in a bit of shelter for lunch 1/2 way.  

Out of the trees the wind was definitely a factor however the visibility was pretty good and soon we could see Bow Hut up on the ridge.  In all it took us a little under 4 hours to gain the 530 metres to gain the hut and when we arrived there was a small crowd huddled around the fire, always nice to arrive at a warm hut!  

After getting all our stuff stowed in various place we headed out with Dave and Dexter from the hut for some turns.  Given we didn't head out the door until 4:15 pm we kept it to an hour and climbed above the hut for a run.  Snow was nice and light boot top powder with less wind effect than I expected however visibility was close to nil.  We played leap frog on the way down to keep our bearings and made it back to the hut without a major garage sale.

The next day dawned fairly clear and cool - around -12C - and we got organized for the trip to Balfour Hut.  Our party left the hut close to 10 am, looking forward to getting up on the glacier.  Given we felt the need to rope up at some point we pulled it out at the tongue and Steve lead us up the never ending slope towards St Nick.  

Visibility did come and go along with a bit of a breeze however we crossed the Olive/St Nick col just after noon after gaining just over 500 metres and the sun come out to greet us.

We had a few good turns after coming around the corner after the col and started down the shallow slope towards the hut.  We were very happy to pass a large party going the other way; it meant that the hut was likely empty (it was) and we had tracks to follow to speed things up on the flats on the way down.  

We arrived at the Balfour hut just after 2 pm, had a late lunch and headed out for a bit at 3:30.  Deanna and Steve hiked around the hut, checking out the views of Hector Lake.  Marni and I scoped a route up to the Balfour high col.  The weather was looking better and visibility on Balfour actually came in from time to time.

We spent a great evening with the hut all to ourselves.  The only glitch was the co2 alarm waking us up in both official languages, but an open window soon took care of that.  However during the night the wind really picked up and it was cool, about -15C in the morning.  With all the wind and no fireplace the hut wasn't warm. We woke up to seeing our breath, however Marni got up and made us all cafe mocha's to get things going.

Once we scraped the ice off the windows, we could see spotty visibility up to the high col however the wind was hammering.  It was one of those days you wanted a belay to the outhouse!

After a bit of humming and hawing we headed out into the teeth of it just before 10am and headed up Balfour.  Once we were out of the venturi, the wind wasn't bad however the visibility did start to go.  

We carried on for and hour and got to the point that we could see the final passage to the col.  It didn't look good and after a huddle with the usual discussion in situations like this, we turned around.

We got back to the Balfour hut at noon and after a quick lunch (glad we left some water) we headed back to Bow Hut.  Visibility wasn't bad until we got mid way up the Vulture glacier, then it got pretty soupy.  Fortunately we were able to use the moraine on the climbers right as a handrail and with a few huddles complete with map study and healthy debate, we crossed over towards the col at the right time and Deanna lead up to the Olive/St Nick col at 4:15 pm.

Once to the col the wind was absolutely honking, although the viz improved a bit.  We skooted across to the start of the descent to the Bow Hut however the wind continued.  At one point I skied ahead of the group and turned back to watch as their heads slowly appeared above the blowing snow.

Needless to say the ski quality left something to be desired and we were all very happy to land at the hut just after 5.  After a 1000 metre day with overnight packs it was a pleasure to find we had the Bow Hut all to ourselves.

We had a great night, quite a bit warmer than the previous one and woke once again to cafe mocha's.  After a leisurely morning we had a quick, largely uneventful ski down to the car.  

It was hard not to gloat as we passed 3 parties totally more than 25 on their way up to the Hut.

Great weekend, great place with great people!

November Kananaskis Country Ice 2013

November 24-25, Kananaskis

Synopsis: Definitely early season, pretty thin but great just to get back behind the tools!

Geoff, Kim and I headed to Canmore Friday evening.  Meeting friends at the Griz resulted in a few beers, a few games of pool and a late start Saturday morning.

We heard conditions were thin and debated where to try our luck. In the end we settled on the Opal Ridge area in Southern K-Country.  We drove back and forth a couple of times checking the climbs out and the only one we could see definitely in from the road was Solid Cold.  

You can see it high in the gully to Geoff's left, a fair ways in but we needed some exercise.  We left the car about 11:30 without really reading the route description or taking it with us and plunged straight up the gully.  It got pretty entertaining pretty quickly with bush and deep snow with wind slabs.

   
After a fair bit of thrashing we climbed up to the left to gain the ridge and climbed further on much easier terrain.

We didn't really trust the ridge, or the summer trail, enough to stay on the ridge all the way along so after we came in even with the band of trees on the right we plunged back down.  Ah the joys of climbing and descending frozen scree!

The real heinous part was getting up the last 50 metres to the ice; steep, deep and crusted - a great work out.  Definitely much more like winter mountaineering than ice climbing!  We finally arrived at the ice after 4 hours taken to gain 650 metres.  The ice was great but we had a good laugh at the effort for 20 metres of ice!

It was thin on the bottom and top and pretty funky in between but it felt good to be on the ice.  Once down it was 4:40pm and definitely getting dark, we hammered down in an hour through more fun and games to the best tasting beer I can remember having.

The conditions weren't really the kind to make you consider cutting the night time activities short so we didn't and had an even later start the next day.  We had heard the ice wasn't bad at King Creek further south so headed in.  25 minutes on a packed trail felt pretty luxurious.  It was crowded however we found a nice pitch of soft WI3 to play on.

As I say, great to swing the tools!

Early Season Skiing in Rogers Pass 2012

November 10-11, Asulkan Hut

Synopsis: How do you rate early season pow? Good hut, great friends and enough sun to get into the Alpine. It doesn't get much better!

A group of 6 of us met at the Asulkan parking lot Saturday morning at 9.  I don't think I've ever seen such little snow in the parking lot and was wondering about the conditions, especially given the most snow I had seen on the drive was in Edmonton.

Sure enough, we had to boot pack from the parking lot up to the old road however once there put on the skis and started to skin up. Once we started the climb out of the road things got a little bony with rocks and vegetation showing under the larger trees.  The creek was running and there were lots of vegetation sticking out of the snow pack but hey, you can't complain when it's only 5 below.

Due to the conditions, the tracks pretty much followed the summer trail up to the tree triangle.  I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed climbing up through the mousetrap as the slopes above were certainly not loaded.

However, once we were up in the tree triangle things improved immensely.  Obviously a fair amount of snow had blow in and the rain crust that was evident lower down because less obvious as we started to climb.  It did take us a little over 5 hours to climb the 990 metres to the hut.  Partly due to the bony conditions and partly due to my lack of fitness, however there is no better way to work on it!

Once at the hut we claimed a bunk and headed on out at a little after 3 pm.  Viz was good and the snow soft, we had a great run down the tree triangle.  It was a little tracked from the Vancouver group that had been there a day before but we found some untracked on skiers left.  We were down just before 4 pm and it was definitely starting to get dusk, an hour climb to regain the 375 metres and it was miller time!

The next day dawned cool at -15c but not a whole lot of wind. The sky was pretty clear so we left the hut at 9 am and went up high. Spectacular views and boot top powder, much of it wind slabby. But we found a line down the steps to the skiers right of the pterodactyl and it was boot top hero snow.  We stopped short as crevasses were starting to loom and set a track up.

Once up we noticed that others had set a track up the Young's peak headwall and just as we started up it the Vancouver gang started down.  Stability was good and we climbed Young's peak before starting down the headwall.  

Great turns with a little wind slab from time to time to keep you on your toes.  Afterwards another climb and run down the steps, by this time in the day the sun coming and going and we were a few less than the start of the day.  On the last climb the wind picked up, I actually got the first frost nip of the season on the nose and with it getting later in the day we headed in.  It turned out to be a 1400 metre day, not a bad way to start the season!  

The next morning was a little more socked in with some snow overnight and windy.  Fred and Steve headed out as Fred had a flight to catch to Japan.  We headed down to the toilet bowl for the first run of the day at about 9 am with the Vancouver gang.  They soon left us in the dust, however we got in three runs before heading back to the hut for lunch.  After a great lunch and quick clean up headed down the ski out.  It was a lot better than I expected and we were out in 1:45 hrs with a few nicks in the skis but nothing major.


Thanks to Andrew, Brenda, Nick, Steve and Fred for a fantastic weekend!

Valley View 2012

Saturday Sept 29, 2012 Valley View 5.9 on Cascade

Synopsis: 4 stars out of 5, a fun 7 pitch sport route with some good climbing and easy access.

Kris and I arrived at the parking lot, just inside the cattle guard on the road to Lake Minnewanka and the light rain just wasn't letting up.  Finally at 10 am it looked to be clearing so we hit the trail.  

The trail is pretty obvious and it is a rare joy to be able to see the entire route from much of the approach.  It is a bit of a grunt and the sun came out in time to ensure some sweat.  We arrived at the wall and scrambled up in our approach shoes just left of a short wall with a bolted anchor.  Kris scrambled up to an old dead tree and spotted bolts just past the gully to the left.  Checked it out on descent and it appears to be the right start.

I lead the first pitch, pretty compact rock.  Kris got the second pitch with one 5.9 move and kept going to link up pitch 2 and 3.  While he was belaying me the wind picked up in earnest and it actually snowed a bit.  I was climbing quickly figuring we would bail but when I got to the belay the sun came back out!  Kind of set the tone for the day.

The next pitch was great prickly limestone and felt about right for the 5.9 grade.  We took a small rack but the only piece we placed was me when I didn't see a bolt close by early on.  Pitches were short, 10 draws more than did it.  Kris put the 5th and 6th pitches together without much rope drag and the climb started to live up to it's name.

The 7th pitch was fun but a lot of scree up near the belay made it hard to keep rocks off the second.  We were at the top 3 hours after starting to climb and scampered up to some ledges for lunch.

With a combination of lowering and rappelling on the bolted anchors we were down in just over an hour and were back at the car around 4:30 for a 6 1/2 hour day.

Recommended for a fairly short fun day out although next time I wouldn't take any gear and we did knock off a couple of rocks so wouldn't be keen to climb under another party.

Mt Woolley & Diadem 2012

Saturday/Sunday/Monday Sept 22-24, 2012 Mt. Woolley 3405m Mt. Diadem 3371m

Synopsis: 3 stars out of 5, two 11,000ers in a beautiful setting with great views of Mt Alberta and the North Twin.

James and Andrew met in Lake Louise and picked me up at Saskatchewan River Crossing at noon on Saturday.  It was a perfectly blue sky on the drive down and between the mountains and the fall colours it was a beautiful drive.  The pull off is just 12 km north of the ice field visitors centre and we left the car just after 1 pm.

Likely the most dangerous part of the trip was crossing highway 93 with an overnight pack on a sunny afternoon, after that the Sunwapta river crossing was nothing.  Being fall it wasn't mid calf, although still a little chilly!

The trail was a pretty good trail up the gorge and once up a bit the spectacular peaks of the MacArthur group come into view.  In the photo below both are over 10,500' and look like interesting objectives in their own right.

About then we came to a bouldery section and took a trail a bit higher than Woolley creek.  On the way down we saw the error of our ways, the good trail is right next to the creek.  3:45 hrs and 675 meters of elevation gain put us at the biv site, there was a few to choose from.  We did have neighbours, a team of three from the UK.

We spent most of the very short evening reading over the three different route descriptions we had attempting to plan the next morning.  Our plan was to attempt the regular route which we thought would go up the rock between the two snow gullies in the photo above.  The SE face route, the right hand snow gully, looked interesting however we were a bit concerned about snow quality.

Sunday morning, up at 4:30 am and we were walking at 5:30 anticipating sunlight at 6:30.  In spite of a chilly evening it was a balmy 7 above when the alarms went.  We skirted the lake and followed scree on glacier as much as possible.  After roping up for a short section with some significant crevasses, we caught up to the other team at the nose of the rock, between the two snow gullies, at 7 am after a gain of roughly 350 m and with not a hint of sunlight.

All 6 of us worked left and right on the choss pile that made up the toe of rock attempting to find a route through.  After an hour of futility, Andrew finally put his hands on his hips and uttered "I'm sooo done with this" (likely caused by sleeping on a female specific thermarest).

We immediately escaped climbers right and jumped on the SE face route.  Needless to say it was a pleasure to be on snow.  Funny enough once we climbed up to the large snow patch on the rock to our left, Andrew and James saw a significant cairn on the other side.  We skirted around the bottom of the snow patch and climbed a short chimney feature to the cairn.

 
This was the passage through to the left hand snow gully.  There was a bit of a trail rising diagonally through the loose rock.  It made sense as our goal was to gain the left hand snow filled gully above the area threatened by serac fall.  Not great rock but pretty easy travel none the less.

We then jumped in the snow gully for a short steep (40 degree) section before breaking climbers left through a gap in the rock.  We had a second tool and ice screws just in case, but they weren't close to being necessary.  The sun was starting to make itself felt however there was some significant smoke in the air.  Not good for the views but likely saved the snow very getting too sloppy on the descent.

I expected to go around the corner and be on the Woolley/Diadem col however it was a fair way back.  We arrived at the col at 10 am at roughly 3100 m.  We chose to climb Woolley first as it looked more inviting, a long ridge with an interesting bit mid way.

On top of Woolley at 11:15 am, as mentioned it was a little smokey but we still had great views of Mt Alberta with some of the biggest hanging glaciers I've ever seen in the foreground.

There was a bit of wind but it was still pretty mild, especially given it was the end of September.  Nice view back to the campsite down by the lake!

It was a pretty simple exercise to retrace our steps to the col, near the col there are a few crevasses however we felt comfortable without the rope.  Back at the col shortly after 12:00 pm, we started the rocky scramble up to Diadem.

On the way up Diadem, we met the other team coming down as they stuck to the SE face.  They were going out that night so were descending and skipped Woolley.

The top of Diadem is a straight forward snow slope after you scramble up the scree, we didn't even put our crampons back on.  Having said that once on top we saw the small rock outcrop further on that just might be higher...

It turned out not to be (just) but it is a fun scramble with a bit of exposure to liven things up.

On top of the rock pinnacle at 1:15 pm, we retraced our steps back to the col and then back to camp.  Pretty straight forward, we were in camp at 4:30 pm with a grin on our faces.  After 11 hours and 1400 metres of elevation gain there was a short discussion about packing up and heading out but we opted for the nice meal, scotch, sunset and bug out in the morning.

Wouldn't you know it, the next day dawned clear as a whistle.  We waiting for the sun to warm things up before getting too carried away.  Broke camp and left at 9:30 am and were back at the car in two and a half hours.

We did discover that a climb isn't complete without a theme song, one that Andrew started singing after I called him a negative nelly:


http://youtu.be/9m7tPikH0UA

Thanks to Andrew and James for a great weekend!