[MCR] Rockies: Victoria redux

There have been mixed reports about Victoria lately but after teetering along the S Ridge today I would say don't bother. Some of the route had good snow coverage with OK steps but a good deal of it was snow over rock that required crampons and gave insecure and slow climbing.

Descent via the Huber Ledges was fast with good coverage in the gully and on the glaciers. The schrunds have some thin new bridges on them - I know because I fell into one (only up to my hips). The ledges themselves had a few cm of snow on them but that didn't slow things down.

The blustery weather of the past couple of days gave about 5 cm of new snow on Vic. Other peaks in the area such as Hungabee seemed to have picked up significantly more than that. Snowline was about 2400 m on north aspects today.

Mark Klassen

Mountain Guide

www.alpinism.com