Jeremy Mackenzie and I climbed Victoria North Peak during a brief day of
very cold weather.
It is important to note that there was a clear cold night with below
freezing temperatures at the parking lot followed almost immediately by
clouds showing up at sunrise and a cold north wind all day. Without this
assistance from the weather we would not have been able to safely complete
the climb.
The trail above the teahouse was in excellent shape and we roped up and put
on crampons almost immediately as the snow was down to almost the top of the
trail and quite firm due to the good freeze and continuing cold
temperatures.
The lower glacier was in pretty good shape with pretty good coverage of the
crevasses, although many sags were now beginning to show and gave us some
moments of attentive behaviour regarding crossing some bridges. Two ropes of
two were wisely an hour in front of us and they occasionally went straight
up and down a few things we went around.
The Victoria / Collier col still has large cornices above the low point and
the rock bands discussed in the guidebook are still snow covered.
Since there is so much snow below the col and cornices threatening the
normal approach we were all forced to climb up steeper slopes to the
climbers right of the cornices. The snow here was generally very supportive
and had a solid 15 cm crust making for good cramponing except in a couple of
key spots. On two steep traverses over rock bands the crust was thinner and
gave for some exciting post-holing into moist snow beneath. Even an hour of
sunlight on this slope would have made things dangerous and necessitated a
traverse over Collier or even further to be able to descend a safer route.
Fortunately for us the clouds descended, the wind became cooler and the
temperature at 2PM at the toe of the glacier at the end of the climb only
got up to 7 degrees. We considered how this slope would be for the descent
and chose to continue given how cold the weather had become.
Above the col we ascended on firm snow then steepening ice around the cliff
band to the right. Definitely a good place for a half dozen screws and
pitching it out. At this elevation the conditions were more like winter than
summer but with exposed ice. The upper slopes were firm cramponing on hard
snow or ice.
On descent we rappelled the rock band in two 25m rappels down to ice. The
first rappel was from a slung block and the second rappel was on pitons.
Bring spare cord or webbing just in case you are forced to do the same. The
parties before us did one 60m rappel back to ice.
We retraced the route and down-climbed the steep slopes back to the glacier.
The steeper section of concern was holding together but still would have
been unsafe if temperatures or solar radiation were anymore than we had,
which was minimal. The flatter sections on the glacier were still very
supportive all the way back to the top of the descent trail to the Plain of
Six Glaciers teahouse.
Since it is unlikely that this combination of very cold, clear night
followed by very cold, cloudy and windy day is unlikely to repeat itself, I
would definitely wait until a lot of the crappy snow either melts off,
sluffs off or settles out before attempting this route. Be wary of the
cornices as well as they are pretty huge right now.
Recent aerial photos of the Lake Louise group submitted by Mac Ledwidge show
just how snowy things are in this area. Play safe.
Cyril Shokoples MG
Rescue Dynamics
5109 - 17A Avenue NW
Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA T6L 1K5
http://www.rescuedynamics.ca
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These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in
continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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