The Highest Height in Alberta: Mt. Columbia 3747m
Thanks again to Mammut for facilitating this fantastic adventure.
Gery – our fearless leader
Gery Unterasinger organized us: myself and five strong men from Calgary who call themselves the White Clothed Peaks. We set off in a great weather window to summit the highest peak in Alberta. Mt. Columbia at 3747m.
off to the ‘races’
We started by meeting in Lake Louise at 6:30 am, which got us skiing by 10 am. After competing with the Brewster Ice buses at the Athabasca Glacier.
The graceful wilderness approach to the Athabasca glacier
We were happy to connect with Mark Klassen who showed us a ‘safer’ way to traverse through the three icefalls of the glacier- one of the cruxes of the route.
traversing through the icefalls
The rest of the trip had a lot of flatish glacier slogging. Where you could watch your dog run away 😉 I was grateful when I pulled up and saw the digging of our campsite — which meant I could unload the beast that was on my back.
your dog is in BC
We were blessed with some amazing weather, which made for fantastic cooking conditions and lifestyle photos at dawn and dusk.
oh, the light!
Unfortunately, there was some suffering. Ground meat surface around the feet, elephantitis around the face and one suspicious case of altitude sickness cause some vomitting:
NOT fun
This is an example of me ‘being comfortable’ winter camping in perfectly reasonable temperatures:
anyone have an extra layer or hot beverage?
The greatest rewards from this trip include: being with some quality folks who were giving it their ALL! and the amazing vistas to the west and to the north.
the vastness
I must say that I think the greatest joy of the trip, other than the fragrance of our clothes, was the relief felt when the ‘rental’ boots came off!
oh, please make it stop
I am very proud of these guys for enduring the suffering of rental equipment and naivety, but they survived a very physically challenging adventure and received the rewards of amazing scenery and a job ‘well done’!
sweet as
Team Lithuania in Patagonia
Gedis, Aras and Saule
Today we went for a 5 pitch rock climb. Bolts, around 5.10 or 6a. Very fun outing. A little bit windy– good training for us to get to know each other and get into thinking about alpine climbing.
Gedis on the 1st pitch
in the rhythm
enjoying the views
the wind picks up
our 1st summit - many more to come ; )
to rescue training...
So after a day of getting to know each other and some rescue review… we are off to the mountains. Tomorrow we will hike into Piedre Negra and hope to climb Guillomet and Aguja Pollone in the next couple days….
