Victoria North; Alpine Climbing at Lake Louise Part 1 -- A Walk in the Sky

Описание: This is it! This is part 1 of the centerpiece of my Fall Rockies Adventures. This 3 day alpine adventure with IFMGA Mountain Guide Jesse De Montigny from Yamnuska Mountain Adventures was the motivation for all my previous adventures. Of course, my previous climbs were amazing in their own right but I always had it in my mind that it was training for this 3 day EPIC. And yes, it turned into a mini EPIC (stay tuned for the future episodes where we bail due to electrical storms and end up bushwhacking into another province to get out!)

Doing everything I did prior was to make sure I had the stamina and skills to be fully engaged the entire time I was out on this climb and not worry about the actual climbing. Jesse and I had discussed allowing me to lead if I was able to solo the terrain safely. So, I spent as much time soloing piles of garbage during long days so I was ready. This entire trip was focused on teaching me how to guide this kind of objective. We were partners on this climb, not client and guide.

The audio from my GoPro was bad with the wind and some strange creaking from the case... I am trying to make a full version with all our chatter and more depth on my learning experience but everything I have tried so far has not helped all that much... So enjoy the climb and not listening to our constant chatter for 12 hours straight!

Leaving from Canmore at some insane hour (2:00am), we made out way to Lake Louise Lakeshore Parking Lot and took the Plains of Six Glaciers Trail Passed Big Beehive Devil's Thumb, Lake Agnes and made out way to the Six Glaciers Tea House (it was closed at 5am when we arrived). To took the Swiss Guides Trail up to the scree below the Victoria Glacier. We made our way up and onto the glacier. After picking our way through the heavily crevassed ice, we made it to the black bands guarding access to the Victoria N - Collier Col. Jesse lead a pitch up the shattered rock with no gear and we made our way up the ridge. We picked our way through some 4th class terrain covered in snow. A few short pitches and some climbing up to 5.3 (felt like 5.4 to me at the crux move, in classic Rockies fashion). We toped out after a few hundred meters of kicking steps.

The decent was not filmed because my gopro died but we headed down the glacier on the north face on good snow and did a few raps over the harder pitches of climbing where stations were available. We ended up taking a different route down the lower glacier to avoid the crevasse fields we encountered on the way up. Lots of side hilling and some mangled ankles and toes on the way down but it was all good fun!