Another season of alpine air guitar...

Aaron joined me again this month for some climbing and training for our planned Mt. Robson climb in August.  Those of you who were following my blog last summer may remember a number of photo's of Aaron air-guitaring on summits. 

We started out with a day of ice & glacier skills review on the Boundary Glacier.  The next morning we got up really early and headed towards the excellent North Ridge route on Athabasca (III, 5.5), which is definitely the most challenging route on the peak.  It was in very snowy winter-like condition which added some extra challenge.   The route has a poor reputation, but this is mostly due to people getting suckered onto the downsloping low angle left-hand side of the ridge.  If you stay on the steeper ground, the climbing is excellent.  We had a great day on the route, and good views to boot!

Aaron scrambling through the rocks low on the route.

Aaron leading one of the steep snow section.

Spectacular positions high on the route.

 Classic mountaineers pose on the summit!

We had hoped to do a multiday climb on the East Ridge of Mt. Patterson afterwards, but the weather was not in our favour.  So, we instead decided to do some rock climbing in the Bow Valley for a day.  We chose the really fun route "Econonline (5.10a)" on the East End of Rundle.  The climb went well and Aaron did great on the steeper climbing.  The crux traverse pitch is a memorable one for sure!

We also had the pleasure of watching a mountain goat grazing on the cliffs nearby, you don't usually see them at such low elevations.  

J. Mills
CRAG Head Guide
www.cdnalpine.com

Glacier Travel Course & Athabasca ascent

A couple weekends ago I ran my first Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue Course of the summer.  These are always fun courses, and are a great way to get introduced to mountaineering at the Icefields.  I had a great group of 6 guys down for the weekend, and we were able to accomplish alot during the two days. 

The first day was spent learning a bunch of rescue skills and anchor building, and everyone picked it up really quickly.  By the end of the day everyone knew how to rescue a partner from a crevasse in a variety of situations, as well as rescue themselves by ascending a rope with prussics.

Practicing crevasse rescue on Saturday.

On Sunday, we headed up to the North Glacier on Mt. Athabasca and learned how to not fall in a crevasse in the first place!  We also practiced moving with the rope on, steep snow climbing, ice anchors, and a variety of other skills.  After spending a few hours on the glacier, everyone was still energetic so we decided to scramble to the top of Boundary Peak to get some great views.

Roped up on the lower glacier.

On the scramble up Boundary Peak with Mt. Hilda & A2 in the background.

A large serac fall avalanche off Mt. Kitchener.  Cool!

On Monday, one of the course participants, Scott, joined me in an ascent of the North Glacier route up Mt. Athabasca.  We had good travel conditions and great views!  We moved up the route quickly and Scott did really well on his first big peak.  The views from the top were awesome!

 Scott on the lower glacier with Mt. Kitchener, Wolley, Diadem, and Mushroom behind.

Sweet weather on the summit!

Thanks to all the guys on the course, and especially to Scott for the fun climb on Monday.  I hope to see you all again!

J. Mills
CRAG Head Guide
www.cdnalpine.com

Alpine Adventures with Luke (Mt. Cline, AthaB, and Yamnuska)

Spent a great week in the alpine with Luke from Wisconsin in late May.  Luke had come out once before for an ice climbing trip, but it was tons of fun getting to know him better and do some big peaks! 

One of his main ambitions for the week was to do a more remote wilderness peak.  We decided upon Mt. Cline since it is rarely visited and would be fun climbing in it's current wintery conditions. 

On day 1 we hiked up Thompson Creek to our basecamp in the giant boulders.  Despite all the snow, travel was quite fast since there had been a good freeze the night before to keep the snow solid & supportive.  There were a few small flurries in the afternoon and evening, but we were up early the next day to try for the summit.  We had very poor visibility throughout the day, but the climbing conditions were mostly really good on firm snow.  The crux notches are a heck of a lot harder when they are snowy though!  Exciting times climbing up and down the first notch with a thousand foot drop below your feet and snow & ice on all the handholds!  We reached the summit in good spirits and descended down the normal route past the Cline Lakes to camp.  The next morning we packed up and hiked back out to the car. 

Luke climbing up the snow gully low on the route.

Luke in the crux notch enjoying some fine winter climbing!

All smiles on the summit of Mt. Cline.

For the next portion of our trip we decided to do some climbing at the Columbia Icefields.  Since our day hiking out from Cline wasn't too tiring, we got up early and headed to the North Face Bypass route on Mt. Athabasca the very next day.  Again we had very limited visibility, but the snow conditions were fantastic and travel was fast.  After the traverse below the Silverhorn & North Face routes, we were able to move together up the snow gullies to gain the upper North Ridge.  From here there are a few fun pitches on low angle rock & ice, then a really cool snow ridge to the summit. 

Luke on one of the icy sections high on Athabasca.

On the summit, with a nice view of white on white.

After Athabasca, we decided to head back to the Bow Valley for a couple days of rock climbing.  Unfortunately it started raining that night, and continued to be mixed snow & rain for our remaining two days.  However, Luke was as keen to learn as ever so we spent a productive day at Wasootch rock climbing in our boots, building various gear anchors, practicing rescue skills, and perhaps getting just a little bit wet!  The next day all the cliffs were snow covered, but we decided to have an adventure on the classic Grillmairs Chimneys route (5.7) on Yamnuska.  It was indeed adventurous, with snow & ice on the holds, and a mix of snow, light hail, rain, and occasional sunshine throughout the day.  It was really fun climbing though, and very much felt like an alpine route in those conditions.  We climbed almost all of it with gloves on, and never switched to rock shoes. 

 

Near the base of Grillmairs Chimneys.

 

Climbing up one of the chimney pitches low on the route.

Luke entering the cave/chimney system on the second last pitch. 

Overall it was a fantastic week of adventure climbing, and Luke was always psyched about the wild conditions!  I think he learned alot about mountaineering, and I'm sure will continue to improve his skills every chance he gets.  He also taught me a ton of stuff during the week as he was always keen to share his encyclopedic knowledge of science, nature, and history. 

J. Mills
CRAG Head Guide
www.cdnalpine.com

Yamnuska & EEOR with Dan & Tezla

So far the Spring rock & alpine season has been going great!  Apart from lots of cragging in Skaha and the Bow Valley, I've had some really fun guiding days on multipitch climbs around Canmore. 

In mid-May, Dan & Tezla joined me for two days of multipitching and we were lucky to get some great weather.  We started with an ascent of "Pony Express" (5.10a) up on Mt. Yamnuska.  It was a really nice route on good solid grey rock.  The crux comes on pitch 6 and is in a really cool position on a prow high on the cliff. 

 Me leading on Pony Express.  Photo: Dan C.

Dan & Tezla enjoying the sunshine on one of the belay ledges on Pony Express.

The next day we decided to tackle a route called Econoline (5.10a) up on EEOR (climber slang for "East End Of Rundle").   The climb follows some of the best rock on the wall, and has a really cool crux section where you traverse across a smooth wall with small handholds and very little to put your feet on. 

Tezla nearing a belay on Econoline.

All three of us had lots of fun climbing up on the classic walls of the Bow Valley, and Dan & Tezla both did great on their first 5.10 multipitch routes!

J. Mills
CRAG Head Guide
www.cdnalpine.com