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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
05 Aug 06 |
7:32 |
6:15 |
There are two possible approaches for this climb. Sean Dougherty recommends going through Paradise Valley, which
requires six people due to bear restrictions. The other alternative approach is from the Lake Louise side, where
you can hike toward the Plain of Six Glaciers and then cut across the valley to the Lefroy Glacier. In this picture
we see Lefroy and Victoria. The Mitre is on this side of Lefroy, but out of sight in this picture.
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This is pretty much where we cut across the valley. In hindsight, we should have stayed in the valley bottom
and gone up to the base of the Victoria Glacier, then srambled up a moraine to gain the Lefroy Glacier. We
ended up ascending the moraine seen in this left half of this picture. Unfortunately, we eventually had to
lose elevation to get on the Lefroy Glacier.
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From our moraine, we had nice views of the Victoria Glacier and the Plain of Six Glaciers area. If you look
closely at the bottom-center of the picture, you can see Blair.
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Finally!! We reached the Lefroy Glacier. And we're now able to see our objective. Up until now, we had only
heard rumours that this peak was at the base of Lefroy. Our route went up the left ice gully to the col on the
left side of The Mitre.
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Here is a closer look at the ice gully. It would have been much easier if there was snow on this gully. As
you can see, the gully splits near the top. The right branch is the more direct, but it's more subject to
rock fall. We ascended the right branch, but on descent, we took the left branch.
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Once the rocks on the glacier began to thin out, Blair and I decided to put on the crampons.
We'd definitely need them for going up the ice gully.
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At the base of the ice gully, there was a small 'schrund. It actually shows the depth of the glacier (about 20ft).
This glacier won't be around in about 20 years.
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This is looking down the gully from about halfway up it. The angle isn't too steep, but having lots of snow would
be helpful. For us, this gully was solid ice (with rock pebbles mixed in). If you fell, you'd have no hope of arresting
the fall.
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About halfway up, we found a little sheltered area. Rockfall was becoming more of an issue, and if
you got hit with a rock, which knocked you off balance, you'd quickly find yourself at the base of
the gully. So, we did a running belay the rest of the way to the col. This is me, getting the rope out.
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This is me at the col. The route will circle the peak to a gully on the south side (non-Lefroy glacier side).
In the background, in the lower left corner, you can see Deltaform.
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After a break at the col, we circled around the mountain to a prominent gully seen here. If you look
closely at the bottom center of the picture, you can find Blair.
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This is the upper half of this gully. The black rock seen in the middle of the picture is where the technical climbing
begins. Above the black rock, and where the shadow is seen, there is a tight crack, where you can squeeze through. If you're
a fat person, you're in for some tough climbing. The alternative way around the crack is to continue up an overhanging wall,
above a keyhole.
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I need to layoff those Dairy Queen pit stops!!. This is me coming through the crack. Before entering the crack, you
need to take off your pack (of course), but you also need to position your feet the way you want to go through. You
won't be able to turn your foot once you're in there. As you can see, it's not much wider than my helmet.
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Ahhh. The look of relief. I made it through the crack.
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Here I am at the other side of the crack, sitting down on the job. From where Blair took this picture, he heads straight up,
then back around to be above me. Rope drag is a problem on this pitch.
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This is Blair, standing where he took the above picture. The route goes up and then back above me.
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From the next belay station, you cross a small bowl, which isn't as bad as it looks, then enter into a long loose gully
seen here. In the middle of the picture, you can see Blair. We did a running belay to the top of the gully.
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This is more of the gully.
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This is me, arriving at the top of the gully. The gully is mostly 4th class, but there are the occassional 5.2 steps.
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From the top of the gully, the rest of the route starts to become obvious. Basically, you go around the two orange
nubs on the left, then circle around to the base of a diagonal gully in black rock. In the picture, there is
snow at the base of this gully. About halfway up the gully, go straight up the rock face to regain the orange rock.
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This is where we left that gully to go straight up. Blair is now at the base of the crux. This chimney with a chockstone
was really tough for me.
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Here I am about a foot above the crux move. Whew!!!
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The rest of the route is just a ridge scramble, still pretty exposed in a few spots. We kept the rope on because we didn't want to
bother taking it off. But the rope isn't really needed at this point. Although, with that said, there was one small step up here
that we rappelled on descent. So, don't just leave the ropes at the crux.
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Blair reaches the summit. The problem with being roped together is that I can't just run out and pass Blair,
beating him to the summit. That tactic works on scrambles, but not when you're tied to a rope.
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Now it's my turn to scramble up to the summit.
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Yeah, I reached the summit.
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This is grandpa Blair lounging around at the summit, eating a sandwhich. You'd think it was a picnic or something.
In the background is Hungabee.
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Okay. The picnic is over... time to go home.
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I reached a small step that I wasn't comfortable downclimbing, so I quickly built an anchor and rapped down 10m.
I then scrambled on to the crux.
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This is the second rap, which takes you over the crux. It was a 30m rap into that diagonal gully, followed by a
5m downclimb.
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This is the third rap, which gets you into the long 4th class gully.
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This is about the fifth rap, which begins at the base of the long 4th class gully. After that, there are two
more raps that will bring you to the base of the first technical pitch. You then just hike around to the col.
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From the col, we went further east and took the other gully down to the Lefroy Glacier. This was much easier because
it contained snow, not ice. We also had intermittent scree patchs. We were able to follow this all the way down
to the 'schrund, where we finally had to step out onto the ice.
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Once on the Lefroy Glacier, we followed it straight toward the teahouse, until we were at the toe of the
Victoria Glacier (seen here). We then turned right and headed down the valley before spotting an easy path
to regain the Plain of Six Glacier's trail.
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