Grand Canyon II

I'm Now the Outdoor Program Coordinator for Texas Tech University

Wapta Icefields

John Fulton and I skied 60k across the icefields north of Banff, Alberta April 15-22. This is a brief account. 
 
Day 1: Canada Highway 93 to the Peyto Hut. We traveled six kilometers accessing the northern most hut by crossing the Peyto Glacier. There were some monster-sized timber wolf tracks along our skin track and we saw the last trees for almost a week of touring.
Day 2: Peyto Hut to Bow Hut. After conferencing with our new pals, Kjersten, Ollie, Eric and Dave we left to ski big ski shot down from Mount Habel. Our "sun with cloud" forecast altered plans to a different ski line off Mount Rhonnda, then halfway up Rhonnda a whiteout left us searching for the Bow Hut using GPS navigation. After reaching the hut we did, however, ski over the Saint Nicholas/Olive Col and skied a shot back in the afternoon. Best to remember where the cliffs are.
Day 3: Bow Hut to Balfour Hut. An ominous weather forecast advanced our schedule by a day. The chosen route from the Bow to the Balfour took us over the Vulture Col to the Vulture glacier and included a great shot of skiing; pop turns up high and steep powder down low.
Day 4: Weathered in at Balfour Hut. A guided group with Yamnuska Mountain Guides under the leadership of Barry Blanchard started at 4:30 a.m. They retreated from the Balfour col due to high winds. We spent much of the day inside the hut and made an expedition outside to "ice-boulder" on exposed ice near the hut using our axes and crampons. One of the mot remote places to be stranded.
Day 5: Balfour Hut to Scott Duncan Hut. Clear skies and smooth sailing over the Balfour high col. It took us three hours to summit, but with good visibility the route was easy. After arriving at the Scott Duncan hut (perched on the side of Mount Daly) we had time to kill and great weather. We summitted Daly in few hours, mostly following boot track leading up the peak. A pleasant couple from Newfoundland arrived at dusk from Hector Lake (Pat and Susie.)
Day 6: Pat and Susie left to climb Mount Balfour and we headed the opposite direction to exit over the Bath Glacier. Avalanche hazard turned us around, and we were forced to retreat to the standard route past Mount Niles. Terrible skiing on punchy crust, but straight forward. Upon exiting at Canada Highway 1 east of Golden we chose to head over Rogers Pass and to Revelstoke. A phenomenal drive and a great way to end a spectacular  tour in the Southern Canadian Rockies.     

Timing is everything

When the time is right the time is right and lately I've had the summit bug in my  system.  Autumn in the high Rocky Mountains produces some of the best and most stable weather conditions for hiking and climbing, but I've had a hell of a time locating partners to get on those coveted peaks remaining on my 14ers checklist. Of the 54 tallest peaks in Colorado (at elevations of 14,000 feet or greater) most are large choss piles with little appeal for mountaineering minus their height. I embarked with the lofty goal of climbing all of them when I was 18 years of age and now a mere decade later I have about 15 peaks remaining. Many of the summits close to my home in Salida were easy day hikes and I'm now left with the formidable adversaries buried deep within the Northern and Southern San Juan Mountains as well as the highest points in the Sangre De Christo and Elk Ranges.
A brief time frame in autumn brings prolonged spells of sunny calm conditions at high altitude while the mountain passes remain open. This occurs before the first snows close them off to motorized travel. Alternately during the spring many roads are cutoff by snow and in the hottest months of July and August the monsoonal weather pattern unleashes nearly daily thunder storms leaving many of the longer hikes inaccessible. With some time off from work and a weather forecast reading "60 degrees, wind 5-10 mph and sunny at elevations of 13,000 feet and higher" for several days in a row, it boggles my mind why I can't get anyone to go on a fun 15-mile hike into the most remote corners of the state.
Weather is critical for the success of any trip, whether to the beach or to the mountains. A perfect example of this lesson comes to mind after a failed hiking attempt in May of 2011 outside of Durango. The planned expedition was a spring ski trip into Chicago Basin with peaks such as North and South Eolus, the Sunlight Spire, Windom Peak and Jupiter Peak. The basin is located within the Southern San Juan Range and require several days of hiking to reach a high camp. However, the DNRG tourist rail line, which travels from Durango to Silverton reduces the trip to a single days hike in at the cost is $100 per person. Several friends from the Vail Valley and myself booked train tickets the first weekend the rail line opened, but we made the arrangements before an ominous weather forecast appeared on the horizon.
The scenic train ride leaves from Durango early in the morning and follows the Animas River above Rockwood Box and up to the upper stretch of the river. The route is often completed as a multi-day kayak run from Silverton. We got off the train at the Needleton stop alongside another group looking to ski Chicago Basin and some rafters who would put on the river and descend to the town site of Rockwood. We arrived under sunny skies with provisions for more than five days including expedition tents, food, stoves, our skis and boots. After the sixth brutal mile of steep hiking we finally reached the first patches of snow. From there it was another two miles of skinning to camp.
Before arriving at our camp we stopped to take a water break. I was somewhat out of breath and starting to feel the altitude so at first I assumed  the guy sitting without shoes or socks perched on a stump and drinking a beer was some sort of hallucination. After a quick double take I gestured at him and asked my companions if he had gotten off the train with us earlier in the day. No one had so we meandered over to what appeared to be his camp. 
I don't think we ever actually exchanged names, but the gentleman in question was wearing a Chamonix Mountain Guides hat, a torn cotton T-shirt reading Silverton Jamboree 1997 and unclasped bibs rolled up to his knees. His camp consisted of a light sleeping bag, a small ski pack, his skis and a half finished 18-pack of Tecate.
Exhausted we clumsily lowered our gigantic backpacks and asked which mountain he had skied that morning. He gestured up the basin and said, "All of those peaks up there. I climbed them all a few years ago starting with Eolus, but this go I tried doing them counterclockwise from Sunlight."
He said the weather and snow had been perfect except that conditions hadn't softened up as much as he'd have liked. He then asked about the weather forecast and probed for information about a less often climbed summit called Pigeon Peak.
"Oh, there's a chance of some weather huh? I might just head out in the morning then and cut my losses," he said with an indifferent shrug.
As a backcountry ski trip our own experience could be deemed a success, however as a climbing mission we failed miserably. The sunny skies during our hike in gave way to a full day of hammering wind and then it snowed off and on consistently for the duration of our stay in Chicago Basin. After five days of camping, climbing and failed summits the only peak we made it to the top of was Eolus.
With that lesson logged I've been trying to enjoy the great weather in October, or should I Rocktober. Even when no one else is available to climb one partner who has proven herself as an eager companion is Nyx, our 18-month-old border collie. She now has several 14ers on her climbing resume, but I hope she doesn't develop the compulsive need to climb them all.  

Life of Leisure; Low water boating 2012

For a low water year I had a remarkable number of days on the water. Between rafting the Grand Canyon and going back to guiding full time my only big regret may be that I didn't get to kayak that many new runs this season.

Checking out in the Royal Gorge

Kirschbaum's Rapid on the Upper Colorado

Botched line at Tunnel Falls

Low water Freestyle at FIBArk

Raft guide training in the Numbers

Duckie trips; a mellow stretch.

Stand up paddling. Fad or fantastic?

Hooligans in the water!

Jackson threading the Eye of the Needle on the Piedra.

The author getting after it on Gore Canyon

Until the next river season!

Grand Canyon 2012