[MCR] Rockies, Mt Hector

I guided and ascent of the North Glacier of Mt Hector on Monday and Tuesday, Sept 21,22.

Ice on the boulders on the edges of the creek made for a tricky crossing. Some verglas on the scrambling up climbers left of the waterfalls. Pleasant hiking in the hanging valley to our campsite.

Tuesday we started in the centre of the N Glacier, but then favoured the climbers right hand side of it. Many crevasses and it felt safer with 18 meters of rope between us and stopper knots every 2 meters (60 m rope). A supportive crust carried well until about 10,500 ft. above there foot penetration varied from crampon deep to boot-top. A hand shear at 10,500 ft gave a hard planar shear down 15 cm, depth of snow was 30 cm, but varied to over a 100cm on the upper mountain. We hugged the rock cliffs on climbers right at the summit block to stay out of the wide open slopes for fear of avalanche, although I believe that the crust had everything locked-up.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard,

Mountain Guide,

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

Mt Hector

Hector Lake

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