Canadian Rockies Alpine Guides: Mt. Fay - West Ridge with Eric & Veronique

Had a great trip up to the Neil Colgan Hut and Mt. Fay in August with Eric & Veronique from Calgary. They have been climbing for a few years now and have become skilled climbers on a variety of terrain, and Mt. Fay has a bit of everything so it was a fun & challenging trip!

On the first day we left the Moraine Lake parking lot and headed up the Perren Route. This route is an excellent way to access the glaciers & hut below Mt. Fay. It involves a fair bit of scrambling, some 5.4 quartzite rock climbing, and 30m of climbing a fixed chain up a steep limestone wall! Once above all the rock, it is a short walk across the glacier to the hut.

Veronique high on the Perren route with Moraine Lake & Mt. Temple in the background.

The next morning we started at the crack of dawn and made our way across the glacier to Mt. Fay. Since the bergshrund was too large below the normal start of the West Ridge, we climbed an ice slope further West for 4 pitches, then scrambled over a small (but loose!) subpeak to gain the start of the ridge. The ridge has a number of sections of fun climbing on rock up to 5.4 in difficulty, and some wild exposure above the North Face of the mountain! After a nice break on the summit, we descended by downclimbing and rappelling the same route, and then back down the Perren Route to the car. It was a really fun trip and I hope to do some ice climbing with Eric & Veronique this winter!