Hey there!
So for a bit of a contrast from the last few days posts on Athabasca we had
some fairly different conditions due to warm overnight temps and a really poor
freeze. Nicer ascent right now, if you're able to hold out for some colder
temps and/or better freezes up there. I've been guiding from the Icefields for
the past 3 days, guided the AA Col Route today with little to no freeze below
9500ft. Travel on the lower AA glacier wasn't to bad but extremely wet. All of
our boots could have been rung out like sponges only a couple hundred meters
onto this ice.
The steep slope which gains the col, had some fairly labor intensive track
setting. Up to 50cm boot penetration and lots of collapsing steps made things
tough. Lots of back filling your steps to stay afloat. Above 10,000ft as long
as you stayed in the pre-existing track the steps were mostly supportive over
the Silverhorn to the Summit and back.
On the way back down, descending the steep slope below the col, we got slowed
down a fair bit crashing shins first through a 5cm crust as well.
Definitely earned it today :)
Despite the conditions we ran into, we got to watch an amazing sunrise from the
summit, made up for all the tough stuff!
Have fun out there!
Mike Trehearne
Alpine Guide / Apprentice Ski Guide
mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.facebook.com/cloudnineguides
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