Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 23:45:05 -0500
From: matthew@matthewhollingworth.net
Subject: Some final Canadian climbs
Hi again all.
This is a final update on the climbs that Patrick and I have been doing in the Canadian Rockies. Tonight we're staying in Canmore, after climbing Mount Athabasca this morning, and from here we'll slowly head back to Vancouver for Patrick's Friday flight to London.
After visiting the Bugaboos, we headed back to Banff and up to a tiny hut on Castle mountain. Castle Mountain is a two-tiered rock peak, with a big ledge along the middle called Goat Plateau (see picture). The Alpine Club of Canada has a tiny four-bed hut right next to the cliff (i.e. ten metres away) on Goat Plateau. Getting up to the hut involved a laborious uphill grind and included one pitch of roped climbing to get through a cliff band. We headed up in cold conditions, with a very light snow intermittently falling. The hut was gorgeous, and probably rates as one of my all-time favourites. It has an open-air outhouse two metres from the cliff, facing out!
The following day we climbed a fabulous 5.6 buttress called Brewer Buttress, and known as one of the best lines in the Rockies. Despite some initial problems, which involved some snow falling during the first pitch and a heated argument and shouting match between Patrick on the ground and me at the first belay, we continued with the climb once the snow abated. The skies cleared during the day (though it remained chilly), and we climbed twelve or more pitches of fantastic limestone to the top of Castle Mountain. Descending the mountain involved scrambling down a large scree gully, with a few abseils thrown in. We arrive
back at the hut with pleny of daylight to spare, another 12+ hour day under our belt. We half-heartedly attempted another climb the next day, but ended up blissfully vegging out in the hut before going back to the car the next day.
Next up was a trip up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Cold and rainy weather accompanied our drive, but the road is pretty speccy. Once in Jasper, we took a hotel room for a few days, before camping once more. While in Jasper, we attempted a peak called Mount Geraldine, and failed on it on two consecutive days! The first day we took the wrong trails and did some nasty bushwacking before turning round in disgust. The next day, we took the correct route (still lots of nasty bushwacking) to the bottom of the North ridge of the mountain. The climb was to be mostly scrambling on the steep, exposed ridge, and after going up a short way, we were not very comfortable with the exposure and decided to bail. Kind of a low point of the trip...
Having nearly had a gutful of climbing, we returned along the Icefields Parkway, expecting to climb no more. However, a clear sunny day yielded a perfect view of the Normal Route on Mount Athabasca (see picture) as we drove by, and Patrick decided he wanted to give it a go. So we did, today! The route is a lovely glacier climb, involving a 1500 metre height gain to a 3500m peak on the continental divide. To catch the snow while it was still firm for the ascent, we awoke at 2.15am this morning after very little sleep (hard to fall asleep when it's still light at 10.30). We started up at 3am, climbed moraine, then glacier, and summitted at 8.30am. Very tidy! Fantastic views all around, including the Columbia Icefields. After half an hour on the summit, we headed back down and were back at the car at 12.30pm. A perfect end to our trip - Patrick was elated.
That's about all I have to report. Patrick leaves on Friday, and a few days later I will be meeting up with Madeleine for a week's climbing. After she leaves, I'll fly to Boston for a little while, then I'll drive to Portland Oregon to visit some friends and attend a wedding. After that, home most likely. But maybe not back to work straight away, I might bum around for a while.
I hope you're all well, and have enjoyed reading my emails.
Matthew.
