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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
12 Oct 98 |
5:15 |
4:30 |
I climbed this as part of Yamnuska Mountaineering School's Snow and
Ice Long Weekend. The three day course is designed to teach glacier travel, cravasse rescue,
ice climbing, and general mountaineering. On the last day of this course, we climbed
Mt. Athabasca. We started this weekend with 20 people; however, by climbing day, we were down
to 18. The remaining 18 people were split into six teams. Three of the teams were going
to ascend Mt. Athabasca by the north glacier (shown in front of Mt. Athabasca). The other
three teams (including me) ascended via the "AA - Route" (from the right). The three teams which traveled up the
north glacier were turned back because of an avalanche hazard. As it turned out, they stopped
just in time. There was a major avalanche later that day!!! Of the three AA teams, one person
dropped out, and the teams were reorganized into two teams of four (plus a guide). The eight people
(plus two guides) ended up being the only people to summit that day.
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10 Oct 98 - Here we see my team putting on their harnesses and getting ready for
glacier travel. From left to right, we have Claudia, Kevin, "I forget", Chris, and our guide, Reed.
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10 Oct 98 - After putting on our harnesses, we all roped up. For glacier travel,
you want to be 30 metres apart in case someone in the line falls into a cravasse. On the summit day,
Reed (our guide for day one) fell into a cravasse. I guess it's a good thing we learned cravasse
rescue first.
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10 Oct 98 - Here is a closer image of our team roped up and ready to go.
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10 Oct 98 - Here is a side view of a cravasse. Cravasses are places where the
glacier cracks open. They are often covered with a thin layer of snow, thus making glacier
travel very dangerous when done alone. When a person falls into a cravasse (alone), they usually fall
about 30 feet or so, get themselves wedged into the cravasse, then freeze to death. Of course,
when you're with a group, and you're all roped together, it's not a big deal. On this particular
cravasse our guide Reed took us horizontally through it. With our backs to one wall and crampons against the other,
we slid our way through the cravasse. It was cool (no pun intended).
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10 Oct 98 - Toward the end of Day 1, Reed had finished everything he was suppose
to teach us, so we decided to have fun. We did a little bit of ice climbing and belaying in the
cravasse, which would be a prelude to the next day. Here we see Claudia climbing out of the
cravasse.
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11 Oct 98 - On Day 2, we practiced cravasse rescue and ice climbing. Our group
(reduced to four people because one dropped out) had Rod as our guide for the day. Here we see Reed
(yesterday's guide) taking his group up the hill. Our group stayed down at the toe of the north glacier.
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11 Oct 98 - Here we see Claudia making her way up the ice slopes, as we practiced
ice climbing. This was the best part of the day.
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12 Oct 98 - Day 3 - Summit day. We started this day early in the morning,
going about two hours with headlamps. By the time the sun came up, we were on the AA glacier,
and the weather was getting worse. As the sun came up, the wind became stronger, and the snow
began to fly. The opportunity for pictures this day just didn't exist. We only stopped for brief
periods to put on crampons, or get a very quick drink of water. Also, the weather (often whiteout
conditions) kept my camera in my pack. At the summit, I was able to take two quick pictures.
Here we see Claudia with snow and ice on her face, thus proving the weather was not the best in
the world.
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12 Oct 98 - Here, Claudia took my picture. As you can see behind me (and behind
her in the picture above), the view wasn't that great. In fact, you couldn't see anything.
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