| |
Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
25 May 05 |
2 Days |
1 Day |
Here we are starting out from the toe. The lower tourist parking lot was open, which is the earliest I've seen it open.
But given the proximity to the toe of the glacier, starting there instead of the Athabasca climber's parking lot, this
was definitely the better choice. The three of us have done this so many times, that we each have our known places on
the rope. Blair is always up front, Dan is in the middle, and I'm in the back.
|
|
This is Blair heading up the final ramp to reach the Icefields proper. The ramp is much steeper than it appears in the
picture. The ramp seems to get thinner every year, and you have to wonder if this will still be a viable approach route
ten years from now.
|
|
Here we are starting to go over the shoulder of Snow Dome. We also noticed that we were starting to catch up to a team
of four from Edmonton, who were nice enough to break trail for us. Thanks Markus and company!
|
|
Once we reached the side of SnowDome, the weather took a nose dive. This makes navigation a bit more of a challenge.
Sometimes, like here, you find crevasses closer than you'd like.
|
|
This is the point where you come down off the shoulder of SnowDome, onto a flat bench that leads to a 10,900 ft mound,
just south of the Stutfield col. You can start to make out the ACC-Edmonton team in from of us. They are pretty close
to where Blair and I set up camp on our first attempt at North Twin.
|
|
At this point, I had had enough. That's a long way to carry an overnight pack. We were at GR755831, on the south side
of that big bump. This is Blair (L) and me (R) starting to set up the tent. In the background, you can see the Edmonton
group about 150m away. Notice the sun came out briefly.
|
|
Here is our camp. Dan's getting tea or something. I'm in the back, protecting myself from the wind by sitting near our
snowwall, and in the background, you can see Mt. Columbia.
|
|
Looking north from camp, we got our only view of both Stutfields. At this point, we were all hoping the weather would clear
enough to do the Twins the next day. I bet you can guess how that turns out. I also refer to this picture as "Mother Nature
laying on her back". :-)
|
|
Here we are on the next day. Another day, another whiteout. After much convincing by Dan, we went after the Stutfields.
In the picture, I'm showing Dan how to use his GPS.
|
|
Here we are at the Stutfield Col. Just when we really needed it, the sun came out briefly so we could see our
way through the rockband on Stutfield West. The two Stutfields are just mounds, and you can sort of see the summit
just above the rockband. Of course, it's further than it looks.
|
|
Here we are at the summit of Stutfield West. Dan in orange, I'm in blue. Wasn't the weather fantastic. Soon after
this picture, the weather openned up for us to catch a quick glance at the east peak and our route down to the col.
|
|
We didn't hessitate with the sun out. We quickly dropped down to the col between the two peaks and ran back up the
east peak. Here is Blair approaching the summit of Stutfield East. The weather was starting to open up again, but
it was still very windy.
|
|
I have found that a lot of the peaks on the Icefields have crevasses at the summit (Snowdome, Columbia, etc.), so
we kept our distance from each other, plus, everybody else was starting to smell a little funky. We took turns
tagging the summit. Here you can see me backing up to stand on the summit cornice. Now, time to head back to the
summit of Stutfield West and back to camp.
|
|
Here is Blair standing at the col between the two summits, with Stutfield West in the background. Notice the seracs.
You can't see this from the top of the slope when you're making your way down to the col from the top of Stutfield West.
My advice is to stay skiers center or right when dropping down to the col. Don't go too far to the north, or you might
come down faster than you'd like.
|
|
From the side of Stutfield West, we could look back and catch a glimpse of the east peak. This is the last bit of sun we
would see.
|
|
The next morning, we woke up to another whiteout. Here is Blair boiling water for that precious morning coffee.
|
|
This is Dan and I taking a break on the way out. Terrific visibility.
|
|
Here we are at the top of the headwall, about to descend upon the tourists. We tighten up our boots, and we were
ready to go.
|
|
Finally back at the toe of the glacier. This is me, with Blair in yellow. We're packing up everything to walk
down to the truck. While we didn't get the peaks we set out to get, we also didn't come away empty handed.
|
|
|
