[MCR] Rockies, Mts Andromeda and Athabasca

Guided on the middle Practice Gully on Mt Andromeda, June 1st. Some post holing on the edges of the snow pack and glacier, but the night was cold enough and the travel on the glacier supportive and surprisingly good. The route is in good shape. The bergshrund is mostly filled in,   but still required some soft steps over the void to pull over. We got ice screw anchors for all of the 7 or 8 pitches that we climbed (we tuckered out on the cold hard ice one pitch from the top and rapped the route off of abalakovs), had to dig through a half meter of well bonded snow in the middle of the route to get screws, but it was nice to have some step kicking, rather than ice climbing, there. Cornices ring the top of the route, but I trusted that I could get through on climber's left. Those cornices will start to fail when it gets hot again, if not before.

June 3rd we approached the Silverhorn on Mt Athabasca but turned around at the Nunatak -poor weather and we were moving slow. There is several hundred meters of tedious wet post holing around the little cliffs and horizontal morraine crest on the approach. Travel on the glacier was supportive and good, little evidence of crevasses as yet. As per usual I set a track low across the glacier while heading to the Nunatak and of interest is that the serac that calved from the near end of the North Ramp (May 29 or 30?) over ran the high trail left by other parties but didn't make it to my low trail.

I was happy to be gone from there for 8 hours when my fellow guide, Peter Amann, witnessed an avalanche come from half way up the Silverhorn and run to the Nunatak. Sounds like it was a slab avalanche triggered by rain, Peter?

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard

Mountain Guide

www.barryblanchard.ca

www.yamnuska.com