CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE, EUGENE
We
got up at 7 on Saturday. I made eggs,
sausage, potatoes, and coffee for breakfast.
Then we gathered our gear and walked down to the cooking shelter to meet
our guides and classmates. Our guides (http://yamnuska.com/mountain-guides) included Barry
Blanchard, who is something of a mountaineering legend. Barry has climbed numerous technical peaks
throughout the world, including Mount Everest.
He was joined by Jason Billing.
Both were excellent guides, but Jay was a particularly good
instructor. Our class consisted of 10
additional students. Most were from
Calgary or Edmonton, but one guy was from Colorado, and one girl was Italian
but most recently from France.
Experience levels varied, but this was a beginner-level class, and most
of us fit that description.
We
spent the morning fitting our harnesses and boots and getting acquainted with
our gear. We also did some knot work,
which is not my forte. Luckily, Christy
was there to help me.
After
lunch, we headed over to the Parker Ridge snowfield. It is a steep slope covered with hard-packed
snow. We started out simply learning how
to walk up and down the slope without falling.
I did much better going up! Then
we learned to use an ice axe to self-arrest (i.e., stop an out-of-control
slide). The key to this is simply
holding the axe correctly to begin with.
Holding it the wrong way could easily lead to impaling yourself on
it! Once we had that figured out, we
practiced self-arresting. This meant
sitting on the snow and intentionally launching ourselves down the slope. This was the hardest part of the whole
process – like going off the high dive, it’s hard to
take the plunge. Stopping was easier
than I expected. It actually comes
naturally. It basically required rolling
over, imbedding the head of the axe in the snow, and putting all of your weight
on it and on your knees.
The
second round required going head-first.
That was an even harder process to start, but stopping wasn’t any more
difficult. For our final trick, we went
head-first, on our backs. That one was
tougher, but manageable.
That
evening we had fajitas for dinner and enjoyed another campfire. Christy went to bed early, exhausted from a
whirlwind start to her vacation. I
actually fell asleep in our hammock and woke up after dark. I thought about sleeping there, but it was
just chilly enough to send me into my tent.
STOMP YOUR FEET
While
day one focused on snow travel and safety, day two was all about ice. Specifically, it meant learning how to walk
on glaciers safely. We did our training
on the north glacier, below Mount Athabasca.
We spent most of the morning learning how to walk on the glacier in
crampons. We walked all over the
glacier, including some surprisingly steep sections. The trick was simply stomping your feet, to
dig the points of the crampons into the ice.
I did pretty well, though I did stumble once when I caught the point of
one of my crampons on my pant leg.
Fortunately I landed well. Now I
know why gaiters are necessary – they aren’t just to keep snow out of your
boots. They also reduce the chance of
snagging one of the points of your crampons.
That
afternoon we focused on crevasse rescue.
Afterwards, we regrouped to discuss our plans for Monday. Barry and Jay suggested climbing Mount
Athabasca, but asked everyone if they were comfortable tackling the peak. It’s a long hike, mostly on glaciers and snow,
with an ascent of over 5000’. Several
other options were posed to the group as well (with the possibility of
splitting into smaller groups with different goals). Christy and I had already discussed it, and
she really wanted to attempt the Big One, bad knee or no. Everyone else was also eager to try Athabasca
except one couple. They decided that
they didn’t want to attempt any of the peaks.
So our group was down to 10, not counting guides.
Christy
and I returned to the Icefields Visitor’s Center to get
more ice. That place was a zoo! It was a holiday weekend, and the whole area
was swarming with tourists from every corner of the planet. It reminded me of the Mos
Eisley bar scene in the original Star Wars movie (http://youtu.be/Nn0OHpTuroY). It was a relief getting out of there to
retreat to the relative peace of the campground.
Christy
and I met our guide for the climb, Alex, at the campground. Alex was one of two additional guides that
were joining us to keep the group sizes small.
Alex was a young Australian who seemed friendly and enthusiastic. We were looking forward to climbing with him.
We
had pasta for dinner and attempted to go to bed at 8:30. It was still bright out though, and the
campground was still lively. It took a
while for sleep to come. Still, the
early bed time was necessary, since we were meeting at the trailhead at 3:45. As Barry said, mountain climbing always
starts silly early or stupid early. This
would be stupid early.
ATHABASCA
I
didn’t sleep well, but I was still wide awake and ready to go at 3:15 the next
morning. We got dressed, visited the
toilet, and attempted to eat. I had some
cold cereal and saved a bagel for later.
We’d prepared our packs the previous evening, so it was only 3:30 when
we pulled out of the campground. We
arrived at the trailhead at 3:35, and most of our teammates were already
there. Despite the early hour, we
started our hike at 3:50, 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Our group was full of energy for our attempt
at one of the classic peaks in the Canadian Rockies.
Mount
Athabasca, at 11,453’, is one of the most famous mountains in the Canadian
Rockies. It towers over the Columbia Icefields, and is easily seen from the Icefields
Parkway. The peak was first climbed in
1898, on a trip that took 19 days.
Our
group split into 4 sub-groups featuring 1 guide and 2-3 climbers. Christy and I went with Alex, while the
others teamed up with Barry, Jay, and Mary Beth. Our climb started with a warm up on a paved
road. That was actually a good way to
start, since it got the blood flowing before we attempted anything
difficult. Before long we left the
pavement, and began climbing steeply along a glacial moraine. We were on something of a beaten path here,
though it was hard to tell in the dark.
There wasn’t much hint of the weather that was in store for us. Temperatures were chilly, and the lack of
moon or stars suggested that there was complete cloud cover.
The
initial climb on dirt and scree was a bit challenging for me, mostly because I
was carrying a heavy pack. I actually
had most of Christy’s gear and clothes in addition to my own. We were concerned with how her knee would
hold up on such an ambitious hike. Keeping
her pack weight to a minimum offered us the best chance for success.
Before
long we climbed through a chute filled with snow before returning to the rock
and scree. After a bit more climbing, we
reached a bench adjacent to the glacier.
We stopped there to eat, drink, and put on our crampons. It was at this point that we discovered that
one of our teammates, Jordan, was sick.
His dinner the previous evening had consisted of a burger from the snack
bar at the Icefields Center. Apparently it wasn’t sitting well. In fact, his guide suspected food
poisoning. He had tried to fight through
it, but it was hopeless. Mary Beth
volunteered to take him back to the trailhead.
His partner Rick joined another team to continue the climb. So now we were down to 9 climbers and 3
guides.
We
put on our harnesses and crampons and roped up to climb the glacier. This was an interesting experience. We had walked around on the glacier in
crampons a fair bit the previous day, but we weren’t roped together. Being roped up changed everything. It was necessary to keep only minimal slack
in the rope between us. There was a good
reason for this – if somebody fell, the other two people would have to stop
them before they picked up any momentum.
Otherwise, all 3 of us would go hurling down the glacier.
Having
only a couple of feet of slack made for some awkward hiking. From a distance, the glacier looks like
smooth ice. It’s not. It’s actually broken by rivulets, potholes,
and little ridges. The awkward footing
made it difficult to walk at a consistent pace.
I was in the back, and inevitably Alex would speed up after getting past
a minor obstacle. That meant that I had
to speed up just as I reached the same obstacle. I did a fair bit of floundering, but managed
to keep up, more or less.
We
were climbing the glacier when the sky began to brighten. It was nice to finally be able see more than
a few feet in front of us! On the other
hand, it may have been just as well that we couldn’t see. We still had a long way to go, but it was
already a long way back down to the bottom!
We
took a break to eat and drink. We
resumed by skirting around an obvious crevasse, and actually jumped over it at
its narrowest point. A bit later we made
a turn and began climbing a snowfield.
This was a nice change from the irregular surface of the glacier, but
one stretch was rather scary. We were climbing
up at an angle, with a steep slope above us to the left and a rather abrupt
drop off to the right. Even though we
were roped up, I made a point to avoid looking in that direction. I also mentally went over the process of
self-arresting with my axe.
We
eventually passed the scary part, and continued climbing, first on ice, and
then on rock. We finally reached the end
of the snow and ice, and took another food and water break. Barry announced that we were making
reasonably good time. In fact, we were
right on schedule. This was a relief,
because the weather was sketchy. Earlier
there had been some pockets of blue sky, but now it was clouding up again. We needed to reach the summit and make some
progress back down before afternoon thunderstorms threatened.
The
route from here follows a steep, narrow ridge of rock. This involved mild scrambling, and was much
more like the hiking I’m used to. We
didn’t need much gear except for helmets on this stretch, though there was one place
where we roped up and Alex belayed us.
The scrambling was easy, but it was no place for a mistake. In that spot, a stumble would be fatal.
We
made it past the exposure and continued to scramble. Alex and I reached the summit of the Silverhorn, a subpeak of Mount
Athabasca, but Christy had fallen a bit behind.
She had done fine earlier, but had really begun to struggle after
leaving the snow and ice behind. When
she reached us I could immediately tell that something was wrong. Alex noticed it, too. Her eyes were glassy, and she was
nauseous. She didn’t have a headache,
but her symptoms were consistent with altitude sickness.
Altitude
sickness is something she’s struggled with in the past. I was a bit concerned about that possibility
when we planned the trip, but ultimately we were more worried about her
knee. It turns out that altitude
sickness should’ve been our biggest concern.
She had spent the previous 3 nights at about 5,000’, which is good for
acclimatization, but maybe not good enough.
We were now over 11,000’.
The
route ahead required a brief descent on snow to a saddle, followed by a final
climb along a snowy knife-edge ridge. To
finish the climb, we would have to gear up again with crampons and ropes. That final section would take an hour or so
for the round trip. Unfortunately we had
fallen behind the other two groups.
Alex
made the decision to turn back. I was
feeling pretty good, but I understood his decision. With Christy’s condition in doubt, continuing
would be risky. I was afraid that
Christy would resist. She can be very
competitive when she sets out to accomplish something. I was stunned when she agreed immediately. I was content, since we were at least on a
summit of significance, only a couple hundred feet below the highest point. The view was fantastic, despite the marginal
weather. I can’t imagine that the vista
is any better from the actual summit of Athabasca. From the Silverhorn,
we could see the vastness of the Columbia Icefield
spread out below us. Peaks and glaciers
marched away from us in almost every direction.
The only exception was the summit of Athabasca itself. But that may have been my favorite view. We took a long break there and watched our
teammates surmount the final hump to the summit.
We
expected Christy to be a bit slow on the way down because of her knee. We actually started down from the Silverhorn about the same time everybody else left the
summit of Athabasca. That gave us a 30
minute head start. The descent along the
ridge wasn’t bad, and before long we were back on the snow. The snow was softer due to the warm day,
which added an extra challenge.
Occasionally one of us would plunge through the snow we had walked on
coming up. Christy even went knee-deep
into a small crevasse at one point, but she didn’t have any trouble getting
out.
I
often find descending more difficult than climbing, but that was definitely not
the case on Athabasca. Most of the
descent was really pretty easy, at least until we reached the glacier. That part was even more difficult on tired
legs, but we managed. We even stopped at
one point because Christy was out of water.
Alex showed her how to use an ice screw as a straw. She drank directly from a rivulet running out
of the glacier, and said it was the best water she’d ever tasted.
The
weather had looked threatening earlier, but patches of blue sky began to appear
on our descent. Better late than never!
Our
teammates were gaining on us, and the final steep descent on the moraine was
tedious. Christy had more trouble here
than she did on the snow or ice. Still,
we made it to the cars a couple minutes ahead of everyone else. Everyone regrouped and congratulated each
other on a successful day. It was still
just early afternoon – we practically had the whole day ahead of us! We started it with a beer. It was quite refreshing, so I had
another. I was rather drunk after that
second one!
We
returned to the campground and had a snack.
We had steaks and a bottle of wine for our post-climb celebration, but
we really wanted to go into town for showers.
Christy drove us into Jasper, and we eventually found our way to the
local Activity Center. We bought showers
there for $4 each. Afterwards we got
some groceries and liquor before going to the Jasper Pizza Place for dinner
We
returned to camp, and I sprawled in the hammock and enjoyed one last beer. We were planning to spend a few more nights
at the same campground, so it was nice knowing that we didn’t have to move the
next morning.
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