May 22nd we climbed A2 via the North Little Athabasca Glacier tongue, Athabasca/Boundary Col and upper Boundary Glacier. Given the clear skies overnight and good freeze travel was dreamy, perfect cramponing on the frozen surface right up to 9,700 feet where the snow started to feel a bit wintery still on the north aspect (that bit of information steered us away from the Ramp route on Athabasca suspecting a wind slab there).
May 24th we climbed Mt Athabasca via the AA Col route with a marginal overnight freeze. The snow carried very well, boot top penetration all the way up and down. We didn't use crampons.
There has been a very large serac collapse across the north face basin of Athabasca and there looks like there is more to come having looked down on some BIG cracks in the hanging Silverhorn Glacier.
May 25th we climbed the south ridge of Mt Wilcox and this was the most problematic ascent of our week due to the amount of snow that is still sitting in Wilcox Pass. We persisted linking bare ground with supportive snow.
Relieved to say that summer mountaineering is doing well at the Icefields, exceptionally so given a good freeze.
Happy trails,
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures Snow and Ice Long Weekend groups, May 22.