Mt. Chephren

In mid August, Chris and I bushwacked our way around Chephren Lake and managed to pick our way up it's South Face / West Ridge route (the one in Selected Alpine Climbs).  This was the first mountain of the year that I actually felt perfectly happy with.  We managed to climb it in good style and got up and down before conditions made it tricky.  I still have to go back to do White Pyramid but that will have to wait for next summer.

On Saturday morning Chris showed up at my house and we booked it for the Rockies via Rocky Mountain House.  Parking at the trailhead, we tried to look inconspicuous due to the fact that we were carrying bivy gear.  Camping at the base of the route is apparently not allowed, Parks will tell you to do Chephren in a day.  While that might seem feasible on paper, the truth of the matter is that there is a rather unpleasant bushwack around the lake which would be a hellish experience in the dark.  Considering that one would have to start extremely early in order to go up and down safely in a day, neither of us were too interested in doing a single-day trip.  So there we were with our alpine packs stuffed to the gills with a hidden tent, stove, food and sleeping bags.

Sorting out gear in the parking lot.  Nothing is more stylish that flip-flops and gaiters.

The trail to Chephren Lake went quick and was actually quite nice, despite the slightly boggy sections.  We reached the lake in just under an hour and proceeded along it's South shore.  The shoreline quickly bushed in and we were forced to duck under, hurdle over fallen trees and stone-hop over the submerged beach.  The going was rather slow and I believe that it took us 2 more hours to round the lake and make it to our camp right below Howse Peak.  If ever there is an impressive setting, this bivy is it.  Waterfalls flow off the glacier behind and the towering walls of Howse, WP and Chephren surround you.  We noticed that another group had stashed their gear, which was cause for a bit of concern considering that it was about 4 o'clock and nobody was in sight.  However, once we had our own camp set up we saw 2 figures picking their way slowly down the moraine.  Soon enough Brad walked into our camp (the same one from the Eiffel/Weed trip earlier) along with a female climbing partner of his (I thought those didn't exist!).  They told us that conditions were good but that they hadn't made it to the top.  They were headed out the the cars in an attempt to get some food in Lake Louise.

Scenery at the back end of Chephren Lake

3:00 AM Sunday saw us stumbling around camp in the dark, trying to stuff some food down our own throats and gearing up for the climb.  Our plan was to try and knock off both Chephren and White Pyramid in a day, but we decided that we needed to be back at the col. and descending by no later than 11:00 (due to very warm weather affecting snow conditions).  In hindsight that should have clued us into the fact that we wouldn't manage both in a day but anyhoo, that was our plan.  We left camp around 3:45 and bashed our way up the creek to the climber's right of the moraine.  We soon hit the toe of an avalanche runout and after throwing on the crampons we were on our way.  A short patch of scree functioned to knock any rust off the spikes before we hit the face itself.  I was feeling sick by this point and nearly puking.  I kept thinking that I was bonking due to not enough food for breakfast.  It turns out that I was experiencing the opposite; my stomach didn't seem to have woken up with the rest of me and so all my breakfast was just sitting there like a brick.  I was seriously thinking of turning back but after a half hour nap and realizing that the route couldn't be in much better shape, I decided to try and carry on.  The upset stomach cured itself and soon enough I was back in top form.

The snow slope seemed to go on forever, at least to me.  The headwall is deceivingly low down on the route, and thus the section after that seemed to drag on forever.  Of note is the fact that we simul-soloed the entire route.  The snow conditions weren't bad and the conditions never seemed to warrant the use of a rope.  If you plan on only doing Chephren I would not haul a rope along.  For WP, a rope might be nice on the exposed ridge.  A million switchbacks later we ran out of snow and stashed our crampons, the rope (unused) and other unnecessary gear before slogging up to the summit.  I have to say that the scree on the upper sections of Chephren is by far the worst I have ever experienced.  I think it took Chris and I nearly another hour to make it from our gear cache above the col. to the summit.  We struggled the whole way and it was only when Chris went in front and set the pace that I finally stopped winding myself.  I would only do this route in heavy snow conditions, never dry.  Any more of that scree and I would have probably turned around.

Howse Peak from the top of Chephren

White Pyramid with a bunch of BC icefields behind.  You can see how knife-edged and exposed that would be, I'd definitely take a rope.

The view from the top was a highlight.  The uninterrupted scenery up and down the Icefields Parkway was amazing.  We were the first ascent of 2011, which we both found surprising considering that the route looked to have been in shape for quite a while.  After a short break on the top we headed back down the horrendous scree (in all of about 10 minutes while scree-skiing) to our gear and then began descending.  Even though we were headed down from the col. at about 10:00, the snow was already deteriorating and we spent a considerable amount of time downclimbing face-in.  We were definitely happy to have abandoned White Pyramid.

Chris downclimbs Chephren's South Face

Back at camp we packed up and then headed out to the cars.  After witnessing a runaway teenager and trying to reassure his parents, we pounded the kms back along the established trail to the cars.  Along the way we composed our own motivational march which can be used after a full day of climbing, it's actually pretty effective:

The Climber's March
[Sung to the tune of the US Marines Drill Song (the one in Full Metal Jacket)]

We're a bunch of mountain guys
We climbed up into the skies
Over scree, snow and ice
The view from the top, oh it was nice!
We climbed back down and had a beer
Everybody gave out a great big cheer
But now we curse the long hike out
Through singing, yelling, screams and shouts!

The best thing about Chephren: you can see it for miles and miles.  This photo from Saskatchewan River Crossing.