| Yesterday we did a guide training trip up the Perren Route to the Fay Icefield and then down the Schiesser Route, with some skills work on the glacier in between.
The glacier is in typical dry summer condition with snowplugs and weak bridges but passable.
The ice routes on Mt Fay north face are very dry: The Berle/Kallen is non-existant, the 'schrund below the Chouinard route is open and looks very difficult to negotiate, the Centre Ice Bulge is relatively clean ice but we couldn’t get a good look at the 'schrund, the Roth/Kallen looks like it has melted away but maybe it was just ugly, dirty ice.
Of the three possible starts to the west ridge the right hand looked dirty and melted, the centre had clean ice in the middle but a nasty dirt streak on the left side with rockfall debris below, and the left hand was relatively clean ice with a passable ’schrund. A party climbed the left hand but reported rockfall in that ice gully even with an early start. Toaster sized chunks on the Appliance Sizing Scale.
Mt Little north face was horrid looking with the upper ice face black, dirt encrusted ice with embedded rocks (photo attached). There was a steady stream of rockfall coming off it (coffee grinders, toasters and at least two microwaves).
The Perren Route was dry, the Schisser still had a few snow patches with rockfall in the descender’s left gullies that stayed away from the route itself.
Mark Klassen ACMG-IFMGA Mountain Guide Banff-Lake Louise, Canada
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