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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
23 Apr 05 |
5:30 |
4:40 |
We started out by going across Bow Lake, through the canyon, up to Bow Hut, and onto the Wapta. From there, we
dropped down to the western Wapta by passing between Mts Gordon and South Rhondda. This provided us with our
first views of our objective... Mt. Collie, as seen here. Basically, our route goes right up the middle
of the picture and just right of the crevasses.
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This is Blair on the lower western side of the Wapta. Until this point, we were unroped, but given the crevasses
in front of us, we figured we should rope up. In the background behind Blair is Mt. Ayesha.
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So, here we go... all roped up and about to slog our way up Collie. Our route will take us up the ramp,
just left of the mountain, then circle around that ridge to enter a bowl.
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Here we see myself, bringing up the rear with the eastern Wapta behind us. The black peak in the background is
St. Nick. It looks a lot different from this side.
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As we entered the south bowl below Collie's summit, we could start to see our objective. This view is very foreshortened.
The summit is just left of the cornice along the summit ridge.
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As we got closer to the summit ridge, we began to have great views of Mt. Balfour, seen here in the
distance. On the far left is part of Mt. Gordon.
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Shortly after entering the bowl, we quickly made our way up to the summit ridge. As you can see with the rope, we
encountered a little bit of wind.
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From the low spot in the summit ridge, you get a nice view of the remaining ridge to the summit.
As you can see, there was a small cornice that we'd have to deal with. Since the cornice is mentioned in
guide books, I'd say that this particular cornice is usually there.
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When we were in the bowl below the summit, we looked at the face and decided to ski from the summit. We strapped
the skis to the pack and away we went. Then, after about 50 yards, the slope to our left became quite steep and
convex, where we actually couldn't see how steep it was. We decided to leave the skis there, and ski down from
where we were along the summit ridge. When we reached the summit, we found the face to be quite reasonable, and we were
kicking ourselves for not carrying the skis to the summit. As it turned out, it was still a fantastic ski run.
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This is me, standing at the summit. Behind me is South Rhondda.
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Now it's Blair's turn. Here we see Blair standing at the summit with Des Poilus in the background on the left.
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After soaking in the views, it was time to head down. This time, I went first.
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At times, the descent required us to use extra caution. A slip to the left would be a long way down.
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This is looking backup the ridge. I guess Blair was admiring his tracks. Nice foot prints Blair. :-)
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This is me, almost back at our skis.
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We quickly put on our skis and away we went. Blair made me go first in case it slid, but he didn't have to ask me twice.
Away I went. Incidently, we both released small wet sluffs on the way down, but we both skied faster than they came down.
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What a great run. Once I came to a stop at the bottom of the bowl, I turned back to watch Blair come down (seen here).
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We continued our sensational run down to the bottom of the western Wapta, where we had to skin-up and head to the east side.
Looking back at Mt. Collie, we each reflected on what a great day we'd had.
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Unfortunately, the day was a bit too "great" for Bow Lake. By the time we arrived at the lake shore, there was a lot of
surface water. Since I had to test the skiing earlier in the day, Blair got to test the lake.
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