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Trip: Colonial - standard Trip Date: 08/03/2021 Trip Report: After various plans fell through over the last 2 weeks for various reasons, including life, rain, and smoke, I was itching to do something, anything. On Monday I checked the next day forecast on windy and saw a pocket of good air predicted over the area including Snowfield, etc. On a trip to Snowfield a few years ago we skipped Colonial. A pika had obliterated my partners backpack straps at night. We improvised something out of our glacier gear, which my partner deemed suitable for getting back to the trailhead, but not inspiring enough to add another climb on our way out. Given the favorable smoke forecast I thought this must be my chance to go back for Colonial. Popping out above the trees I could see the forecast was spot on. Haze all around in the distance, but plenty clear locally. I could also see that the face below Colonial was mostly bare ice. It looked intimidating, maybe impossible to do solo with my one axe, approach shoes, and kahtoolas. But I thought I’d proceed for a closer look, and just go as far as I thought I safely could. Upon reaching the face I assessed. The ice was probably unavoidable, unless you down climb steep exposed snow, where it might be possible to skirt around the ice to some choss and back onto snow. The ice was steep at the bottom, below the point where the approach intercepts it. But higher up, from where the approach meets it to the notch looked about 40 degrees. And the runout wasn’t too bad at the beginning of the ice (gets bad 1/3 way across) so I grabbed a sharp rock for my 2nd tool and tried it out. The going was ok and I soon reached a crack in the ice that I used as a kind of ledge to traverse to the notch. I’ve never seen a route described as AI1 or WI1. Maybe this was it. There was a little snice here and there. The cracks in ice had a little snow on the border. When this snow is gone, which won’t take long, the route will require a real ice pitch. I couldn’t have got away with my single axe and light crampons if not for the ‘ledge’ system bordered with snow at the margin. There was a chance of thunderstorms beginning in the afternoon, and I wanted to avoid headlamp time anyway, so didn’t overstay my welcome on the summit. Military jet or two came by to desecrate the area for a little while. Too bad the wilderness act doesn’t cover air space. Traversing the face back the way I came was about the same difficulty as the way up. Definitely required some concentration for the no fall zone. Checked out a small glacial spring on my hike back. The water was quite warm, and the floor was extremely slick, glad I didn’t get stuck in there. The slabs on the way down the ridge made travel enjoyable, as did the knobbier granite from 5800’ down to 5400’. But I felt old on the hike down as knee pain started to kick in (maybe too much fun on the slabs earlier). The winds aloft started picking up and thunder began to rumble in the last mile to the car. Gear Notes: Crampons, two tools would have been good Approach Notes: Be prepared for ice if going now/ late season

That looks like fun, Curt! Especially that first pitch 4 shot looks really cool. Thanks to you and Mark for doing the work, and sharing the photos and topo. Your son looks just like you! Looking forward to meeting you some day, as I'm sure our paths will cross.

My friend and I climbed this route the other day along with the 2 pitch “Top Cat” above. Overall we found the climbing fun and cruiser. It felt like the easiest multi pitch in the darrington area. The perspective gives you great views of exfoliation dome. Even though it was dirty in spots, we thought the best pitches were pitch 2 of Top Cat (photo below) …and pitch 5 of Snagglepuss. We added one last horrible adventure pitch above Top Cat to reach the top of the formation. Cool place!