This post from Albi early in the week (observations from last weekend) was
meant for the MCR and should still contain some relevant info.
Tom Wolfe
Informalex/MCR Moderator
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:54:14 -0600
From: Albi Sole <asole@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Informalex <Rockies@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Rockies/Intalex] Abbots Pass
I and 3 other guides made the trek across Abbots Pass this weekend with
guests.
The Glacier down through the death trap has changed shape a lot since
last summer. The big crevasse has moved up hill 100m+ and should have
route around it all summer. There is smaller crevasse showing in the old
location, but it is very well bridged with debris right now.
The seracs were totally silent on the way down, but we had a near miss
on the way up with a killer boulder from Victoria. A short time earlier
a similar sized boulder had come off of Lefroy. Having done this trip
many times now, I think that when there is a lot of snow around getting
to the hut is a lot riskier than descending the trap. You are
potentially exposed to rock fall for a long time on the way up, versus a
10 minute run through the worst part of the ice fall threatened trap on
the way down. The safest route early season seems to be to to hug the
Victoria side closely until you can cross the obvious large rock
spitting gully. By crossing this gully one at a time and closer to its
mouth, one is exposed for only a short time. From there one can gain the
relatively safe upper middle section of the gully.
Albi Sole
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