N. Joffre Ck. - Fromage Suisse 3/22/2008
Trip: N. Joffre Ck. - Fromage Suisse
Date: 3/22/2008
Trip Report:Bruce Kay (many thanks!) had posted a couple encouraging reports on westcoastice.com of good ice remaining at the high altitudes in N Joffre Ck, and the weather remained cool and not very sunny, so Graham and I decided to have a look. We got out of town around 5:15, grabbed a bite at the Pony Espresso in Pemberton, and skied off up the nearly flat, bush-free road at about 9. We were at the end of the road in less than an hour-and-a-half, where I spent a while patching my abused heels, a souvenier from the previous weekend's ski approach.
The ice on the nearby Swiss Wall was copious, and looked to be in superb shape.
Another 30 or 40 minuts of skiing brought us to beneath the Schniedelwurz - Fromage Suisse gully, which caught the least sun and looked (perhaps) to be the most attractive ice on the wall. The flog up to the base of the routes was deep, soft, and slow, but was mellowed by the pleasant ambience of the whole valley, high, isolated, and peaceful.
I won the draw and chose the right-hand pillar. We soloed to the base and found a sheltered belay at a little shrub behind a nose of rock on the right. The ice at the base of the column was quite poor, but it then improved, with many single swing sticks interspersed with 'platey' sections. The column was far more strenuous and unrelenting than it appeared from below, and I was happy when the angle eased at about 30m.
I belayed just above the 'lip' where the angle drops to 'Grade 2', about 50m out. We rapped from there, as there didn't seem to be much point in climbing the final 20m of low-angled ice.
There was a possibility of climbing Schniedelwurz too, but since it had now turned 3 and we weren't anxious to turn this into a super-long day, we headed down. We were back at the road just after 5, and home by 8:30. North Joffre makes a long day-trip, but it's nice to be able to still climb local ice at Easter. Actually, I'd reckon there's several weeks more to go, provided we don't get a really warm wet rainy spell - there is a HUGE amount of ice, and it's in superb condition. The avvy threat to the Swiss Wall doesn't seem very hazardous, but big slides were thundering down the sunny opposite valley-side gullies continuously from noon till 4pm. Typical springtime in the mountains - choose your places and times!
Cheers,
