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!