Swiss Peaks Traverse

Update June 2017:
Google killed the Picasaweb photo service and the photos in this post no longer click through to larger versions. If you're interested here's the album containing the photos: https://goo.gl/photos/vJbuo3QWWJfifQHP9

Returning mid-week from our eastern holiday we made a quick turn-around to meet Ross and Brian in Rogers Pass. There was an early birthday celebration for me on Friday night. Over a few celebratory beers Ross filled us in on his recent adventures in Ecuador, and Brian regaled us with tales of his new (alas temporary) life as a climbing bum. After a long and leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning, and the steep hike up to Hermit Meadows, we were soon relaxing in the sun and contemplating our goal for the next day, a traverse of Mount Rogers and the Swiss Peaks.



Just after sunrise we were ambling across the glacier with crampons crunch-crunching in the hard snow. It was a glorious blue sky day and by the time we reached the steep headwall the snow had softened just enough to kick easy steps up to the Rogers-Grant Col.



From the col we followed some old tracks up a snowy rib.



And soon stood on our first summit of the day four hours after leaving the tents. Just about guidebook time! Unprecedented :)



Back to the col for a snack, we briefly skirted around to the north side and then up to a snowy notch on the ridge. Here we removed the crampons, stepped from snow onto rock, and began the rock climbing portion of the day.



Up and down we went. The summits of Grant, Fleming, and Swiss all passed by in a blend of sunshine, rock, and magnificent exposure on all sides.



We had the rope out at this one small corniced section between Fleming and Swiss where you can see our tracks.



We also used the rope for a quick rap at a rubbly-snowy-icy section just below the top of Swiss Peak as we descended towards the gendarmes on Truda. It was here after the rappel that we had our only "yeesh" moment of the day. It wasn't entirely clear where we should be heading; staying on the crest of the ridge would mean tackling the most difficult rock climbing we'd seen all day, but dropping down a steep gully on the south side didn't seem like much fun either. Time was slipping by and of course the only clouds of the day chose this moment to obscure the sun and make the whole scene seem more serious that it needed to be. Eventually Ross lead the way down the gully.



We descended a short distance and then picked our way around on snowy ledges until able to work back to the ridge and eventually to the Swiss-Truda col. Not too bad in the end. I suspect these ledges would be snow free most years.

We had a half-hearted debate about whether to continue up Truda for our fifth summit of the day, but I don't think any of us really wanted to try it. Happy enough to save Truda for another day we faced in and started the long process of kicking steps down the Swiss-Truda couloir back to the glacier.



A stellar day in the mountains.

Bon Echo

During a family visit to southern Ontario we managed to squeeze in a side trip to Bon Echo Provincial Park for some climbing. I did some of my first climbing here in the early 90's and have returned time and again to scare myself senseless at this remarkable crag for almost two decades.

Update March 1 2018:
The photos in this post were hosted on Google's Picasaweb but Google killed that service. Thanks Google. Here is the full album on Google Photos which hopefully Google won't kill any time soon.



The cliffs rise over 100 meters directly from Mazinaw Lake. Most of the climbs are only accessible by boat. The Toronto Section of the ACC maintains a boat and property here with a small hut and magnificent waterfront sauna.



There's something intangible about Bon Echo that makes the climbing here especially spooky. Everyone feels it. The routes are long and wandering and loose in places; gear is often really sketchy; the water below adds a certain surreal quality; and the grades are "old school" to put it mildly. Yet combined with the swimming between climbs and good friends and hot lakeside saunas in the evening it all adds up to make one of the most enjoyable and memorable climbing experiences I can imagine.

Front of the Pinnacle


Vertigenous


Boris's Route


We miss this place! Can't wait to go back again. Anyone want to plan some kind of get together for 2012?

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...

Avalanche Crest

"I don't see the point really" said Nick, gazing upwards into the swirling mist.

It was a convincing argument. And a difficult one to counter. How to respond? Waxing lyrical about the great views was no help since we couldn't see a darn thing. Playing the 'it's good to simply be outside today' card would never work either; it was cold, wet, and miserable. I was just debating the merits of using the old 'good for training' ploy when Nick provided reason enough on his own.

"Ah well. I supposed I've got nothing better to do today," and put his head back down to resume plodding upwards along the ridge.



The hoped for weather window didn't materialize on Saturday morning and any hopes of traversing Mount Avalanche were quickly dashed. Instead we hiked up the Avalanche Crest trail and then along the ridge. Calls for a hot soup at the Nomad finally halted our progress at around 2400 meters. There was knee deep snow in places and more coming down by the time we turned around.



At least the snow made the descent somewhat easier on the knees and very quickly we were into the lush forest on the lower part of the trail.



We checked out the log bridge crossing to the Herdman Couloir for another day. I wonder how steep that final snow slope is up to the ridge?

Mount English

Mount English in mid June is typically a hike and scramble with a bit of snow. This year we brought the skis expecting to ski from the car.



We guessed correctly for once. This is the normal camping spot about 200m up the road from where we parked the cars.



I can't exactly say that we were rewarded for our efforts with fantastic spring turns. The mist was right down and it rained consistently throughout the day, and climbing up through the trees was a little grim.



We booted up to the col and called it a day.



And ski we did.



And now, officially, absolutely, we are done skiing for this season. Unless there's still a bit of snow below Hermit Meadows over Canada Day...

Dome Glacier and Wheeler Hut

John and Jeff are two fellow inmates of the yoga class I attend. Oh how we suffer! They're also backcountry skiers and we joined them this weekend at the Wheeler Hut for some some end of season skiing. Not that we could actually keep up with these guys or anything since they could probably give Greg Hill a run for his money. So perhaps "followed their up track" is more accurate than "we went skiing together".

Steve and Nick joined us on Saturday morning and we headed up to the Dome Glacier. The weather was in-and-out for much of the day making for some great photos as we climbed up along The Cleaver with Sir Donald as a dramatic backdrop.



When we reached the Dome Col the sun came out for good giving us great views all around.

Nick at Dome Col. Sapphire Col in the distance.


Dome from Rampart


Andrew on the Rampart


Mt Fox seen through Asulkan Pass


We found light wintry snow all the way down from the Dome Col, behind the Cleaver, and out onto the Dome Glacier. Below that it was every man for himself in sloppy, nearly isothermal snow.

Brenda with Youngs Peak in the distance


With me starting a new job our plans to head to the Columbia Icefields this month have fallen through. So unless I can convince everyone to go to the Glacier Circle Hut (nudge-nudge wink-wink) that may be the end of the season. There's still plenty of snow, but it's the motivation that is beginning to wane...

Three Pass Traverse

Update Jan 2017:
Google killed Picasa so the photos in this post no longer click through to larger versions. Thanks Google. Here's a link to the full photo set if you're interested.

We skied the Three Pass Traverse over two days during the Easter weekend. It was a wonderful trip through some spectacular alpine terrain under warm spring conditions and blue skies.



The route begins in the familiar Connaught drainage behind the hotel in Rogers Pass. On the first day we climbed up to Balu Pass, descended into the Cougar Valley, and re-ascended to Catamount Pass. From here we made a short side trip to climb Mt. Catamount before dropping 1300m down to Ursus Creek to spend the night. After a 1900m day with overnight packs we were happy to call it a day. We had a pleasant evening re-hydrating with tea and Scotch.

#1 Balu Pass


Next objective Catamount Pass as seen from Balu Pass


Brenda just below Catamount Pass


#2 Catamount Pass


Nearing Catamount summit


Not quite the true summit but good enough


Nick skiing off Catamount


Campsite


We packed up the next morning and hit the trail just as the sun starting peaking into the valley. It was a gentle climb up Ursus Creek and soon we came out of the trees and had our first views of Bagheera and McGill; huge peaks that tower over the narrow valley.

McGill


Bagheera


First view of McGill Pass


Approaching McGill Pass


Nick just below McGill Pass


#3 McGill Pass


The slope from McGill Pass down to Bostock faces just about due south and it had been cooking in the hot sun all day. The heavy wet snow was diabolical. We thrashed around a bit after skiing below the usual exit route but eventually got our bearings after booting back up to the summer hiking trail.

A wry smile from Brenda


It was a super trip and well worth the effort. Bugs to Rogers next year?

Bonney Glacier

We had only gone up Loop Brook on days with poor visibility, the treeline skiing being one of the better options when things are clagged in at Rogers Pass. On my last visit I resolved to come back on a sunny day to do a bit of exploring. Inspired by recent photos from fellow Kelowna blogger Loïc we ventured up there on a glorious day over the weekend before Easter. With the warm temperatures we were looking for that mythical high, north, and sheltered terrain that would still be holding cold snow.



Climbing up above the moraines we then made a high traverse across the glacier towards the Bonney-Green col. Following an old skin track for a while we noticed that a mouse had also been using the track; the prints looked so sharp in the fine snow, we joked that the mouse must be running along just ahead of us. This went on for a few hundred meters until we came across the very mouse itself. Well, ex-mouse anyway. Poor thing looked like he'd just keeled over a few minutes ago. Still warm (yes I checked).



As we climbed higher the snow started to dry out. We hadn't figured out exactly how we were going to ski back down, so just as the sun began to disappear behind some high clouds we sneaked through a rock band at around 2400m and started to look for an exit. A rocky rib looked to offer the shaded run that we were after.





Not entirely sure that it would go, we nevertheless ripped off the skins and headed down. Wowee! 500 meters of cold light snow all the way down to the head of the valley.





Where we came across "interesting mouse incident" number two. Not sure if this is clear in the photo (click to enlarge) but mouse tracks come in from the left, wing and tail impression, no mouse tracks leaving the scene.



The rodents are taking a beating in Loop Brook.