July 10-12 we hiked from Moraine Lake over Wenkchemna and Opabin Passes, up to Abbot Pass and down the Death Trap to Lake Louise. The Moraine Lake to Lake O’Hara was generally good travel with typical snow for the year. The glaciers are still well covered and crossing Opabin Pass easy. Crampons were not needed.
The Abbot Pass gully was pretty quiet for rocks, although the party behind us reported a near miss from rock fall. There were numerous avalanches to size 2.5 from Glacier Peak and Lefroy. Tempting though it might be for strong parties that get to the hut early, Lefroy is not a good choice for an afternoon ascent under these conditions.
I do the trip up from Lake O’Hara to Abbot Pass about three times a year, and find the big gully up to the hut to be most dangerous early in the season. The path that goes across the whole gully low down is not a safe one for July since it is highly exposed to rock fall from both sides and avalanches from Lefroy. Your best bet is to hug the left wall under Victoria until you reach a large gully that often spits large rocks. Cross the gully quickly and up again to the protection of the Victoria. >From there you can cross onto the snow ridge in the middle.
No freeze overnight made the early morning descent through the Trap easy. The big crevasse is well covered and should be easy to cross for a few weeks yet. The Icefall was pretty quiet. It would take a really big ice fall to reach the descent route, and in my experience big ice falls are preceded by a number of small and medium falls from the same spot and every few minutes as the ice deforms in preparation for the big event. Making the effort to monitor frequency and size of ice falls as you head into the Trap is a good idea before committing yourself. The most exposed section took our slow party 20 minutes to cross. A fast team could be through in 10 minutes or less.
Albi Sole
ACMG, IFMGA
via
Peter Tucker
ACMG Executive Director
ed@acmg.ca
403-949-3587
403-689-4324 (mobile)