Sunday, September 19, 2010

Glacier Travel Course & Athabasca climb.

It felt like winter at the Columbia Icefields last weekend, complete with snow in the campground each morning and all! However, that didn't stop us from having a fun and successfull weekend.

Crossing some crevasses on Sunday.
On Saturday & Sunday, 5 climbers joined me for a glacier travel & crevasse rescue course. We practiced tons of skills including how to rescue each other from a crevasse, ascending a rope, traveling roped up, some navigation, and, most importantly, how to cross glaciers without falling into a crevasse in the first place! We also worked on some basic snow & ice climbing skills by climbing an ice slope and then later on climbing in and out of a crevasse.


Travelling roped up on the North Glacier below Mt. Athabasca.
On Monday, one of the participants, Jon, stayed for an ascent of Mt. Athabasca. There was lots of fresh snow so we climbed the AA Col route which has the least amount of avalanche hazard. The weather was pretty good and we enjoyed the ascent! It was Jon's first big peak but he has great fitness and the right attitude so the climb went smoothly & quickly.


Jon on Mt. Athabasca.
J. Mills

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