Thursday, August 04, 2011

Abbot-Afton Traverse

A few weeks ago Brenda organized an ACC outing to Mounts Abbott and Afton. There was plenty of interest in the trip and it was a group of eleven that started from the Illecillewaet campground. Included in the group was our good friend Brian from Montreal who is applying himself diligently towards being a climbing bum this summer.

There was still lots of snow on the trail beginning near Marion Lake but Abbott ridge itself was perfectly dry.

Abbott Ridge


Mount Abbott must have one of the best effort to reward ratios of any hike in the area. The view in every direction is spectacular on a warm sunny day.

Nick with Afton in the background


At the top of Abbott the group split up with some of us heading to Afton and the rest retracing their steps. Afton is a fine little scramble and was a good choice for the wide range of experience levels in the group.

Climbing up from the Abbott-Afton col


Brett on the top of Afton


To complete the traverse we descended by the north ridge and then cut across the bowl to rejoin the Abbott ridge, taking time to refill water bottles and skip stones on the way.



The evening was spent at the campground drinking cold beer and Macallan. There was some idle talk about trying something more ambitious the next morning but in the end thoughts of a sleep in and a lazy breakfast won the day. I'm never going to get into shape this summer...

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