Spent Saturday, August 29 on the toe of the North Glacier on Athabasca with
a Leadership course from the ACC Calgary. Just to reiterate what Peter Amann
has said in two recent posts, the Columbia Icefields area is changing
radically and many routes are becoming impassable. For example:
- the bottom half of the Skyladder is presently a choss ladder,
- the gulley on the NW ridge of Athabasca is bereft of snow and ice,
- the Andromeda Strain has lost much of the ice that made it attractive and
this summer may have altered it for the future,
- the AA col route on Athabasca is a scree face with reports of rockfall,
- the N Face Hourglass route on Athabasca is rapidly melting and may lose
enough ice in the next ten years to wipe it off the map completely,
- the Boundary Glacier is a real mess and I would avoid it,
- the upper part of A2 now has rockfall issues, plus some scary crevasses
and bergschrund problems that made us turn back before summiting,
- the N facing ice shield between A2 and Hilda is out of condition. It has
so much rockfall and has lost so much ice that we avoided it this weekend.
This is the worst, dirtiest and ugliest I have seen the Columbia Icefields
area in 35 years of climbing there. Despite that, people are still climbing
Athabasca via the North Face (now getting much harder than ever), the ramp
route and the Silverhorn as conditions allow. These routes are still
passable for skilled and properly equipped parties when conditions allow.
Recent snow may be disguising crevasses up higher.
On Sunday August 30 we returned to the North Glacier below Athabasca and
climbed a five pitch ice route that goes up the lower glacier right of the
normal ascent toward the Boundary / Athabasca col and just left of where an
obvious rockfall hazard exists. Where we went the rockfall hazard was very,
very low and we encountered no rockfall on our ascent at all.
We left the parking lot at 4 AM and did the first two pitches primarily by
headlamp. Temperature at the parking lot was a scorching 12 degrees. It
cooled off just slightly as we approached but definitely one of the warmer
evenings I can remember at the Icefields.
The glacier is dry throughout on the way to the Boundary col with rock
studded in the upper sections but access to the col was not problematic. We
attempted A2 and had no problems on the initial glacier past the col. The
early crevasses were obvious and the initial snow covered sections were
still giving good support despite very warm temperatures.
Higher on A2 we recognized that the normal approach on the climbers left was
a total mess with active rockfall as we approached plus extensive crevasse /
bergschrund issues. As the snow and ice melts back it has left a lot of
loose rock sitting on ice and ready to roll. A new bergschrund has appeared
higher up with loose boulders perched on ice above it. We opted to go
farther right on the glacier than normal and were eventually stymied by
spooky very thin bridges that we were unwilling to try to cross. Right where
we decided to turn around a serac from up above decided to calve off and
hastened our descent.
For my money I would avoid A2 for the rest of the season until winter snow
covers the rockfall issues and rebuilds the bridges. It would still be
passable for a strong party willing to risk much more than the usual hazard
and rockfall. Having said that, we were a strong well equipped party and
still decided to turn back as we found the residual risk daunting on Sunday.
Just for reference I typically climb A2 a couple of times every year and
have done so for many years. This is the worst I have ever seen it.
We retraced our tracks back to the Boundary Col where we summitted Boundary
Peak and descended the scree descent. No water anywhere to be seen on the
descent. The 5 pitch technical but straightforward ice climb that we did as
a start for an ascent of Boundary is an excellent alternative to A2 if you
are looking for something different to do at the Columbia Icefields.
Cheers
Cyril Shokoples MG
Rescue Dynamics
http://www.rescuedynamics.ca
http://www.rescuedynamics.com
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