Andromeda Attempt 14/10/06

Hey, went to climb the North Face of Andromeda with Mark, a new climbing friend from Red Deer and just a kid at 20. We had a good time even though we never got to summit. We found some really cool ice formations in glacial ice cave's at the toe of the AA glacier on route to Andro and that was worth the trip right there. We saw bad weather on the Columbia Icefield from the parking lot, but thought that we should still make a go of it. Gaining the glacier into Andromeda's bowl was fun and kept us alert, same goes for the route finding around crevasses on the glacier. We jumped a 4 foot hole of doom on the way out of the bowl, super cool. We turned around at bottom of Skyladder, the North Face route was still a bit away , 30 min. The wind was constant, the snow started to fall a bit, and the ceiling was dropping. It was do or don't at this point. We talked about just doing Skyladder but decided to bail due to conditions. We didn't really know where the rappel point on the East Ridge was. I was sure I could find it in clear skies but in a white-out? Mark didn't have much in the way of really warm stuff, his bad, and the Athabasca headwall was not in good shape for a decent via that route. So what do ya do?... Bail and play in the ice cave on the way out. Really cool!! I will be going back for the North Face route and the Skyladder route, as it will only be here for a bit longer due to it MELTING AWAY!! Got to love humans. Anyway Mark dropped my OR toque in a crevass and I made him rappel in and get it. He was a good sport about it LOL !!! Joke I didn't MAKE him he just did. Thanks Mark. So we headed home and stopped at a few cool ice cave's and then on the road. Part 1 of ?

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Solo Victoria South 06/09

This is my solo of Victoria South. I stayed at the Abbot hut and climbed the route hut to hut in 4.5 hours. The hut is awsome and the climb a classic must do. It took me 3.5 hour to reach the hut and 1.5 hour to decend to the bus. Total travel time 9.5 hours bus to bus. Spent a day hanging out at the hut, time well spent. Walking the "Sickle" solo unbeleavable. Thanks for the picture John Doe.

Very cool story in front of this amazing hut at almost 10,000 ft.
Getting ready to leave the hut.
The classic Mt. Victoria ridge picture with the summit in the background.


Walking a thin line to an awsome summit.







The Summit !!!!!

Columbia Falls 06/06/23

Top of Alberta Mom ! Couldn't have asked for better weather for our trip. Not a " bad"cloud for the whole time we were on the Columbia Icefield. Rare for the area. This was my 5th attempt at baggin it and that's good for this peak. As some have gone as far as 14 /15 attempts I've heard. I have tried in fall, winter, spring but got it in summer. Weather is a pain in the area.



This is what happens when you forget to " put the lotion on the skin" and 4 hours to late!!!


The Bivi.
To late! We took a nap on the Icefield for an hour. The best nap I ever had but next time I'll cover up.
Columbia on a perfect day we couldn't have asked for more.

My first look at all 12,000 + ft of Columbia. It just took me five attempts to get it.
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Well I have bagged it, the big one in Alberta that is all 12,300 ft of it. With Scott and a random Greg. This was attempt 5 and it was good to close the chapter on this mountain as it was getting thick. The weather was awesome and the views beautiful, alpine glow on Bryce and the Twins, shadows of Columbia on Andromeda and soooo much more...

Attempt 6 at anything in the Columbia Icefield 03/06

This is all the food and gear for 6 days in the Columbia Icefields, it weighed 35 lbs. I worked out all the degree's of travel before hand to prepare for white out conditions.



The mouth of the Athabasca glacier and Andromeda on the left. The headwall up to the Icefield proper looked good.

Athabasca was looking good in the morning sun rise and Kitchener WoW!

The North face of Snow Dome Still has yet to have an accent, wonder why? The Dome glacier in the middle, Snow Dome is left, and Kitchener is right.

I love this face and will at some time make an attempt on it. It's Snow Dome's North East face, on the right side is Slipstream, one of the worlds hardest climbs. Does it look good or what!!

The Dome glacier pours down the valley and the icefall is awesome. The Athabasca glacier and headwall is a great approach.

Athabasca has a great East face that probably see's very little traffic. I will have to make a go of it sometime. On the way home the Weeping Wall looked really good this is the top and bottom. The last photo is just the bottom of it, words don't do it justice and nether do the photo's it's incredible a must see and climb. Happy and safe climbing .

Valley of the Birds 01/21/06

This is (L)Yellow Bird WI 4 30m and Snowbird M6+ 40m. We climbed the left, right and middle and I was close to trying Snowbird but felt burned out from climbing ice and fiddling around on the bottom of Snowbird that I decided it would be best tried another day. Murry lead which was a nice change and gave me the opertunity to try some stuff that wouldn't have on lead. Gained some more confidence on ice, I think that a WI 4 lead is in my near futere. This was my 3rd waterfall I'd climbed, I felt good and protection placement would be ok on lead I thought. It was a great day and the area is full of ice climbs, rock climbs and mixed climbs. It is a mecca!! I will be back.