A Snowy July

The first weekend of July, I was signed up to go on an ACC trip to Athabasca.  Unfortunately, it had snowed about 1-2 feet the week previous, so we ended up pulling the plug.  It was lucky we did, considering that a class 2 avalanche ripped out on the route we were planning on climbing.

In place of Athabasca, we decided to scramble Eiffel Peak in the Valley of the Ten Peaks.  It had a good reputation of giving out great views and a fun scramble.  Unfortunately we would enjoy neither of those attributes; it was zero visibility at the top and the snow conditions made it a wee bit more than your average scramble.

Valley of the Ten Peaks from Larch Valley.

We drove down to Lake Louise and had breakfast at Laggans before driving up to Moraine Lake.  We moved fast off the start, blasting up the Larch Valley trail's switchbacks in under an hour.  It was foggy and quite cool in the valley, and we were forced to kick steps up a small slope to just get to the base of Eiffel.  It definitely did not feel like July!

We kept to the verglas-covered scree for most of the scramble, and off the snow.  We had all made the decision to leave our crampons in the cars and now we were regretting it.  The snow on the face was powdery near the bottom of the slope (actually would have made great skiing) but near the top it turned icy.  When the face constricted, we were forced out onto the snow slope.  Some of the others tried their luck at an icy dihedral to the right and were pushed back.  I spent some considerable time hacking out steps in the icy snow.  It took seven kicks to make a reasonable step.  Luckily this was only for the last hundred meters or so and soon enough we were on top.  There wasn't any view to speak of.

Marc and Brad descending the snow pitch.

We headed back down, quite carefully because of the risk of slipping.  Without crampons we were in a bit of a pickle but slow moving let us get out of there safely.  Soon enough we were descending the Larch Valley trail to the fascination of all the tourists.

After speaking with the parks office in LL, we decided to not bother thinking about Athabasca for Sunday, and instead do another scramble.  Narao Peak was thrown around as an idea, but we eventually settled on Mt. Weed because it was close to our campsite in David Thompson Country (free camping is always worth the extra drive in).

Weed is a bit of a pain in the rear as far as scrambles go.  I would absolutely not go back there without snow in the gullies to climb on.  Scree bashing all the way up would be my definition of hell.  You start out ridiculously low in elevation, and after bushwacking for over an hour you realize that you are barely level with Bow Summit, the high point on the highway.  Then you boulder hop and walk across badly foreshortened scree to the base of the steep gullies.  We gladly found snow in these gullies, and armed with crampons this time, made quick progress up to the top.  Again, we found ourselves in the cloud ceiling and did not get to experience what would undoubtedly be a great view of the Wapta.

Marc moving around a cliff band in the gully.

The gullies did have their hazards, though.  We experienced some small icefall events from some small waterfalls along the sides.  Luckily the snow was all well bonded and so avy hazard wasn't high in our minds.

Brad following up the gullies on Weed.  Peyto and Bow Lakes behind.

After summiting we carefully downclimbed the gully and then bashed our way back down the the highway.  It was a good climb in the upper sections where the snow made it fun and much more enjoyable than scree, but the lower bushwack and scree march would not be worth it if the gullies were snow free.  This one would be a great one to do early in the season when you can count on some nice snow slopes to made the climbing more aesthetic.  The views from the top on a clear day would be amazing.  If not for the undeveloped approach, I think this peak would be extremely popular.