Marco Delesalle and I climbed Mt. Bryce's North Face this weekend. The
route is in excellent condition. The recent storm snow has gone through
some melt-freeze below 3000 m and makes for good travel. Above 3000 m the
face steepens and the snow turns to winter--dry powder--and is shallow
(10-15 cm) from sloughing and avalanching during the last storm and
somewhat facetted, but makes for excellent climbing. There is a lot more
rock on the face than the photo in Dougherty's book indicates, and the
bulges at the top of the face are not there--we took a direct line left of
the rock to within 10 m of the summit. We climbed the ice at night,
summitting just before dawn to minimize hazard both for the climb and the
descent.
I should add that the route is far more complex and involved than you
might guess from Dougherty's description and more challenging than any
other grade IV routes that either Marco or I have climbed. Imagine
beginning your trip with 2 hours of hard core bushwhacking (Dougherty was
accurate about this!) followed by a climb of Mt. Temple's E Ridge,
followed by an ice face about 40% longer and quite a bit steeper at the
top than Athabasca, and consider that there is not a single trace of any
previous human impact anywhere between the cutblocks and the summit, and
you will get a good idea of what's involved.
The South Glacier route is currently in poor condition with high hazard
and is not recommended. The couloir is least hazardous when the sun is not
shining on it (i.e. at night since it's south facing), when it is covered
with snow, and when temperatures are below freezing. Right now, with
overnight freezing levels below 3000 m and with the couloir covered in
rubble for its bottom two-thirds, it is not a good place to be at any time
of the day for climbing or descending.
You can get a good view of the top half of the couloir from the Bush North
road at about km 88.5. If you see rubble, don't do it. Even if you don't
see rubble, the bottom half is the worst area and you might not find out
until you're there how dangerous it really is.
For those interested in more information I'll put a trip report up later
today or tomorrow on the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia,
http://bivouac.com, a site I highly recommend checking out and subscribing
to.
Regards,
Tom Wolfe
AAG
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