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Hey Everyone,
We've had a few of our guides working and climbing out of the Abbott Pass Hut area the past few days. Yesterday 2 Guides did a single day traverse from Lake O'Hara up via the Huber Ledges to Victoria, descending via the hut while the another of our groups finished up a 3 day Abbott Pass Alpine program, and descended from the hut after climbing Victoria the day prior. Conditions on the peak were excellent, and the snow from last weeks storm had mercifully spruced things up a bit. Travel up the Huber ledges was dry and water available in lots of places between Wiwaxy gap and the toe of the Huber Glacier. The recent storm snow made for excellent travel while we ascended the glacier to the ridge on Victoria providing supportive steps overtop of the glacier ice or older snow surfaces below. The bergschrund was easily crossed, as 2 loose snow avalanches from the storm had come down and filled in a good portion of the hole immediately below the line of ascent. Easy to dig to ice above the schrund for screw or v-thread anchors. Above the bergschrund, the usual scrappy gullies still had plenty of snow in them and we short roped comfortably, step kicking in moist supportive snow though out in about ~10-15cm of snow (up to 40cm deep in some of the bigger drifts). We left the crampons on for about 2/3 of the journey back down Victorias summit ridge to the Abbott Pass Hut. Tough to tell if the residual storm snow was hiding bare ice in places as we down climbed through some of the rock steps on the ridge. Slowed us down a bit, but seemed least scary option, and less of a pain then taking them on an off. As we passed the sickle on the way to the hut, we were able to pull the crampons and carry on the descent without them from there. None of our trips over the past week have even contemplated Lefroy. Looks like a great place to get into trouble. Rockfall would be a significant concern. Huber however, looked like it would climb well on snow or ice right to the summit with some cooler temps and an early start. Victoria is back in good shape after the storms last week! Have fun out there! Mike Trehearne IFMGA Mountain Guide Simon Meis ACMG Apprentice Alpine Guide / Ski Guide Kyle Chartrand ACMG Apprentice Alpine Guide _______________________________________________ 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. |
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