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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
23 Jul 06 |
8:34 |
4:22 |
This picture is taken from the Lefroy Glacier across the valley from Unnamed. The dots show our route, +/- 3ft. :-)
Basically, we ascended the left side of the scree gully. As the scree gully ends, we crossed to the right, then
gained the ridge of a moraine, which we followed directly to the cliffband. We worked our way up a couple of wet cliff bands
to the toe of the glacier. Rockfall hazard here. Once on the ridge, we crossed to the second rib and went up from
there. There is a bivy corral where we started our climb. There are a couple of rock climbing pitches along the way,
but the climb is mostly a difficult scramble.
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Of course, the route starts with the 75min hike to the Plain of Six Glaciers tea house. Here we see TJ (left)
and Blair (right) running down an innocent tourist along the approach trail. That's Mt. LeFroy in the background.
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This is more of the approach trail. It's kind of a long trail. I stopped for a quick pee break, and those two
took off on me.
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Blair's Picture - After you reach the Plain of Six Glaciers, you start by going up the scree gully. Here we
see myself heading up.
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At the top of the gully, you bump into a rockband with flowing water. You have to cross the water in a couple of spots.
The lower spot is a bit tougher. Here we see Blair (front) and TJ (back) crossing the water. Since this was one of those
+30°C days, the glacial run-off was very refreshing.
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Blair's Picture - After crossing the water rockband, you work your way up to the toe fo the glacier.
You'll want to move quickly as you cross under it. On a warm day like today, there is some rockfall hazard.
Go ahead and cross a couple of ribs until you come to a small bivy corral. This is where we left our ski
poles for the day. From the bivy corral, continue an additional 5 ft and start going up.
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This is Blair and TJ moving across the toe of the glacier. The skyline ridge is roughly where you start going up.
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Here we see Blair standing on the skyline ridge shown above. Time to start scrambling up.
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Soon after scrambling, we bumped into some technical climbing. Here we see TJ watching Blair dig out the rock rack.
And just so you don't think Blair carries everything, you should know that TJ and I carried the ropes. In the background is
LeFroy and that little nipple-looking thing is The Mitre.
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After Blair led the the way through this rockband, TJ took off after him. After that pitch, we scrambled a bit, and
that led to the next rockband.
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This is the next rockband. Here we see Blair leading his way through it.
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This is looking over at Abbott Pass. LeFroy on the left and Victoria on the right. In the background behind the pass
is Mt. Hungabee. In the foreground, is a sense of the type of scree/rock that's involved in this climb.
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Blair's Picture - This is TJ cresting a ridge. For the most part on the climb, we just stayed roped up because
we didn't feel like coiling the rope. The climbing was really just difficult scrambling. In the background is Fairview
on the left and Haddo/Aberdeen on the right.
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TJ's Picture - This is me belaying Blair. The little overhang was a nice bit of shade, and if rock fall
occured, I'd be protected.
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Blair's Picture - Well, the ascent is almost over. Here, TJ and I have topped out of the scrambling
and climbing.
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This is all that is left of the climb. You just walk along the snow, then scramble up about 20ft to the summit.
Go around this summit block on the right.
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You guessed it. This is me and TJ at the summit.
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And here comes grandpa Blair.
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TJ's Picture - This is that Dave Stephens character that I keep hearing good things about.
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TJ's Picture - This is Blair trying to catch his breath.
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Looking to the SW, this is Mt Victoria in the background and Collier Peak in the foreground.
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Looking toward Abbott's Pass, you see LeFroy, Hungabee and Victoria. Hungabee is the black peak in the background.
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Looking toward the NE you can see Lake Louise and the Chateau.
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Now for the descent. Rather than rappel our ascent route, we decided to try the glacier. We basically, walked
down to the Pope's Peak col, then descended back to the skier's right and got back onto the rock.
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This is where we cut back over to the rock. About 150ft into the rock, we rapped down a rockband.
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One 60m rap will get you back onto the glacier. Where you can downclimb the snow straight down to the rock.
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Blair's Picture - This was 'pleasant'. You don't realize that it's a wet rappell until you crest
over the face. Ugh. Once on the snow, you just start downclimbing.
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From the point we got off that rap and started the downclimb, you can see a side profile of our ascent
route (the skyline ridge)
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Blair's Picture - This is me and TJ downclimbing the snow slope. This downclimb is about 200-300 ft.
Once on the rock, simply walk to the skier's left and regain the glacier. There, you can just walk back
to your ski poles.
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This is Blair (lead) and TJ walking down the glacier. We had to swing around the skier's left to avoid
the large 'schrund. Don't forget your ski poles at the far right end of the glacier.
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Blair's Picture - This is looking back up at our descent route.
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TJ's Camera - To get back through those rockbands below the glacier, you have to rappel one of them.
Keep in mind, in the afternoon, the water is flowing more. Anyway, this is TJ getting ready for that one
last rap, which is only about 10m.
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Blair's Picture - After that last rap, the rest is just a slog back to the parking lot. Here we see me and TJ
going down, trying to catch up with Blair.
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