Lyell Icefield

This was a fabulous 4 day trip organized by Ross. Several months have passed so the details have faded somewhat. The plan was to fly in from Golden and spend 3 nights at the Lyell hut and then hike out via Crampon Col to a vehicle that we had shuttled to the Valenciennes FSR.



It all started with James in his truck and us in ours making the long drive up Big Bend Highway onto the Valenciennes. The first washed out bridge at around 10km wasn't too much trouble.



The second was veeery tempting...



But it was a little too late in the day for shenanigans so we called it quits. We wrapped the truck in chicken wire and sped back to Golden for a few hours sleep.

The next day dawned clear and hot. The weather would follow this pattern from the rest of the trip. The flight from Golden was spectacular giving us a first look at the Lyell Hut perched on a rocky knoll.



Our landing was...er, gripping? The wind was swirling around pretty badly. We finally touched down on the third attempt at what seemed an insanely fast speed. We unloaded the helicopter which then disappeared into the distance leaving behind the five of us, the hut, and one awesome shitter.



The Lyells are five peaks all above the magic 11,000' mark. Four of them are basically walk-ups but Lyell 4 is fairly technical. After arriving we explored the approach and decided to attempt Lyells 1, 2, and 3 the next morning. It was the first really warm spell of the summer and given the amount of snow still on the ground it meant a 3AM start to avoid post-holing up to our necks all day. When the sun rose the next morning we were well on our way.

Lyell 1 and 2 (right to left)


Lyell 1


Lyell 2 from Lyell 1


Lyell 3 from Lyell 2


Lyell 3


Lyell 4 (foreground) and Lyell 5 (background) from Lyell 3


Three 11,000ers in one morning and back at the hut by noon. How cool is that? We relaxed in the sun and napped away the afternoon.

After our close up view of Lyell 4 we decided that a group of 5 would take far too long on the exposed and heavily corniced ridge. Not to mention the risk of a cornice collapse with the rapidly deteriorating snow conditions. So the next day Dave and Ross would have a go while the rest of use ambled up Lyell 5. However one thing lead to another and in the end we gave up on 4. Ross did an exceedingly good job of hiding his exasperation. Sorry bud.

Lyell 5


One of the great aspects to this trip was that it would continue to be an adventure finding our way out. After another early start the next day we first watched the moon set over Crampon Col in the west.



Made our way up the icy slope.



And then looked back to east watch the sunrise over the Lyells.



From here we bumbled our way across the glacier and then across endless moraines and stream crossings in the general direction of Icefall Lodge.





At Icefall we met the owner Larry Dolecki just heading out. He mentioned that he kept an old truck on this side of the washed out bridge on the logging road far below and kindly offered us a ride if we got there in time. This turned out to be an absolute godsend because it saved several hours of slogging back along the road to where we had left the truck.

The hike down from Icefall is straightforward but gruelling with big packs after an already longish day. River crossings everywhere during the spring melt.



Finally back to the truck.



A brilliant trip! More photos over here.