Mount Andromeda

The Alpine fun continued this past weekend. Lachlan and I drove up to the Columbia Icefields to climb Mt. Andromeda with my buddy Al. We arrived close to midnight - normally we'd pitch our tent and crawl into our sleeping bags - not this time - as we were staying in Chateau Al. Al has a wicked camper that sits on his truck, so we had comfy beds to sleep in, a kitchen to cook in and movies and music to keep us entertained - oh and of course Big Al, the best host you could find.



Our alarm was set to 4am, we slept in and didn't get moving till 5:45. This was actually a potential dangerous mistake as the chance of rock fall increases as the day goes on. We jumped out of bed and got moving as quickly as possible, our objective was the North Face of Andromeda, a beautiful 2000 foot wall of ice sitting above a massive crevasse field and sitting below some dangerous seracs.

A long hike brought us to the glacier - this glacier was made up of massive crevasses that were deeper than any I've ever seen. We carefully made our way through the crevasses (sometimes going around and sometimes jumping over).



After a few hours we made it to the North Face and began climbing - This route is a sheer face with only one spot in 2000 feet for resting. What this means is that we climbed almost the entire route front-pointing (standing on the front points of your crampons - kinda like standing on your toes) needless to say our calves were feeling like they were on fire!



We opted to climb this route tied up but without the use of ice screws to get up it as quickly as possible, though in theory a fall would of been quite serious we felt that is one of us fell chances were good that the other 2 would be able to stop the falling climber (don't tell our moms!).

We summitted to a spectacular vista - gorgeous mountains and icefields all around us. We sat on the summit ridge, ate some lunch and took in the beautiful blue skies and amazing mountains around us.

Descending was a different story - the descent was down the East Ridge, it required down climbing through horrible lose rock, rocks were constantly raining down on us while we went down the mountain. Rocks hit all three of us while we were hanging on a steep ice slope on the final set of rappels - thanks helmets!

12 hours after beginning we were at the car - we went back to Chateau Al for some amazing cold beer and pasta - we passed out shortly thereafter.

Thanks to Al for being a rad host and chef. Can't wait for our next Alpine adventure!

The Bugaboos

Wow...

So here I am sitting on my couch after a mindblowing week way up in the Bugaboos. I'm finding integrating back into civilization to be bitter sweet.

I'll try to summarize things quickly...
What made this trip amazing was obviously the settings and the friends - I had 10 climbing friends from Toronto and Vancouver staying at the hut with us... we tried our best to rough it, climb hard and laugh even harder. Big thanks to Rob Leblanc for organizing such an amazing time.

My buddy Lachlan and I began our trip to the Bugs' with a 4 hour drive into British Columbia after a car-abusing (sorry Jetta - never again I promise) hour and a half drive down the worst 'road' I've ever seen. In the parking lot all the cars were fortified with chicken wire - the local porcupines discovered that the rubber hoses hanging under cars made excellent nesting material.




We strapped our 85-plus pound packs on our back and began the 3.5 hour hike up to the Kain Hut - this would be our home for the next week. The hut was actually quite nice - thanks to a nearby stream and solar panels we had both power and running water (but no showers). Though arduous the hike up to the hut was spectacular... everytime the trail went around a bend we were treated to another spectacular view...




The climbing over the week was spectacular... but unlike anything I've ever done. Days usually began with a 4am wake up (yes I actually woke up that early on purpose!!). In order to get to most of the climbs we had between a 2-3 hour hike over glaciers and steep snow requiring the use of crampons and ice axes. On the first day of climbing we made it to the top of the Col (low point between 2 peaks) to watch a stunning sunrise.














On day one of climbing we summitted just as a nasty storm came racing in - the Bugs are plagued with quick-changing nasty weather... we ran down the mountain and got to the base just as the winds and snow began - in all this storm would dump a foot of snow on the mountains and even leave enough snow at the hut for a full-on snowball fight!













I snapped this pic later in the week of the Summit we were on in the above picture when the storm was blowing in - if you click on the pic look closely for the little dot near the top - those are climbers rappelling off the summit.















My buddy Tiago joined us for 'Surf's Up' an amazing climb on a beautiful position on Snowpatch Spire - one of the Bug's most amazing peaks.


















Here is Lachlan finishing the beautiful flake pitch on Surf's up... check out the amazing exposure below him!!














All smiles after finishing a great route... even though we climbed the last 2 pitches with snow falling!!












After we finished climbing Surf's Up there was a bit of a scramble required to get to the descent route... there were stunning views all around us - just mindblowing!





My friends Tim and Elena (who live in Spain) were also in the Bugs - though only seeing them briefly it was great to see em again. They left after the big snowstorm for Squamish and Yosemite - have a great trip guys!

And this is what it's all about... friends celebrating a great week... Rob went down and brought up 28 BOTTLES of beer for all of us to enjoy on the last night... some Cuban cigars topped it all off!!


(for those interested we did McTec Arete, West Ridge of Pigeon Spire, Surf's Up and most of the Kain route before getting chased off by nasty weather)