Myself and four of my colleagues guided in the Lake Louise group, August 11-17.
Overall we had good to great weather and good to excellent conditions on
ascents of North Ridge of Mt Scaffer, East Ridge of Little Odaray, the Huber
Ledges to the Huber/Victoria Col, South-East Ridge of Mt Victoria, West Face of
Mt Lefroy (loose rock threat at the ridgeline as reported by Mike Trehearne
earlier), Normal route on Mt Niblock, the Devil's Thumb, East Ridge of Haddo
Peak, the Grand Sentinel and the normal route on Mt Temple. Good rock climbing
at the Back o' the Lake too.
Of note is that the approach to Abbot Pass from O'Hara, and the normal route on
Mt Temple, are both very busy and rockfall from other parties, and onto other
parties, is an issue. These routes may be considered a "hike" for the whole
family on a calm clear day with no one else around, but these are not those
days. Everyone going to these routes would be wise to have a helmet and to have
studied where the safest routes go. We guides protect the crux step, up and
down, on Mt Temple with a rope and belay.
My aspirations for a traverse of the Mt Haddo on August 15th were crushed
(literally) by a serac collapse down the North Glacier. The debris was visible
and disturbing from the summit, and reported to have happened in the hour
previous by my fellow guide, James Madden, who saw it from the Devil's Thumb.
Our ascent route via the glaciers and snow patches above Surprise Valley was in
excellent shape, save for the talus slopes left exposed by the size 3 avalanche
that ran on glacier ice earlier in the summer. We chose to retreat our ascent
line and that added a couple of hours to our day, but kept us out from under
the unhappy serac. Note that we ascended, and later descended, the snows of the
NE aspect of Haddo to the highest escape ledge leading left to the East Ridge,
about 300 feet higher than the Haddo/Sheol Col exit.
Yesterday was the clearest and best day of my summer thus far. I could see
North Twin and Mt Alberta to the north and the British Royal Group to the
south, awesome.
Happy trails,
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com
the summit ridge of Mt Temple, August 17th
_______________________________________________
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.
See http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
See http://informalex.org/subscribe.shtml/unsubscribe to remove your name from
this list.
|