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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
07 Jul 01 |
1:54 from
Victoria Summit |
8:30 to parking lot |
John also took some pictures, so I'll try to get some of his shots as well.
Here we see Mt. Huber from Lake Oesa. On your way up to Abott's Pass, you go right below
the slopes of Huber and Victoria as you round the corner and head up the scree slope to the
hut.
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This is Mt. Huber as seen from the lower ridge of Mt. Victoria. The view actually gets better
the further you go up the ridge, but I forgot to take a picture. The ascent route up Huber follows
the right skyline ridge. Although it didn't turn out in the picture, there was a large cornice on
the slope facing the camera. Also, the glacier between Victoria and Huber was easily accessed
from Victoria, but there was a 'schrund on both the Victoria and Huber sides, which could pose problems
later in the year. Also, there were cravasses on the glacier below the Huber/Victoria col. It took us 1:09
to get down to the col from the Victoria summit.
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45 minutes after we left the col, we were on the summit. Very minimal effort. Here we see John and Frederic
at the summit with Victoria's summit in the background. Of course, coming down was a different story.
I decided to rapell back down the steep part (two quick rapells) while John and Frederic downclimbed.
Little did I know that my problems were just beginning. Click to enlarge
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It was a hot day, and the snow was getting soft. As we descended down the Huber Glacier, the
snow began to really ball-up on my crampons. I was the back guy in a rope team of three spread out over the
full length of the 60m rope. I slipped and was unable to self-arrest. As I slid (completely out of control)
past Frederic (in the middle), I was heading for a 1,000 foot vertical cliff. About 3 meters before the edge
of the cliff, Frederic held the fall. I was fine physically, but I was pretty shaken up mentally.
Anyway, from the cliff, we traversed left to the lower glacier and crossed it, where we ran into more problems.
The route down through the rockband had dissappeared. I seriously think it fell off the mountain. The route
is obvious down the mountain, and once past the vertical "problem", it's obvious again. Anyway, we spent
nearly 4 hours trying to get through the cliff without rapelling, but finally broke down and rapelled.
 It was a 30m overhanging rapell.
We should have just rapelled from the start and saved 4 hours. After we made it down the Huber Ledges,
we had missed the bus out of Lake O'Hara, so we had to walk the road all the way down to the parking
lot. Walking that road in plastic boots isn't exactly the best thing I did, but after my near death
experience, I was glad to be down. Click to enlarge
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