Canmore/Banff alpine in sept????

[JesseH]

So I fired this off on the North Cascades forum as well but this is probably a more appropriate home....

 

Anyone have any advice/info as to how the canadian rockies are early september? I am vastly approaching a mandatory 6 month climbing fast due to scheduled shoulder surgery and would love to make a 10 day trip to the canmore area in search of some mixed rock and ice. Specifically my partner and I are interested in mt. andromada and am having a hard time finding info on the web as to if they would even be in at this time. Ive heard from a solid source that early sept. is the time for alot of the classics and thought id throw it out to the forum for opinions.

[Alex]

Andromeda has alot of rockfall down its ice routes, which might or might not be in ok condition in Sept. Usually the weather will be more a factor than the condition of a route in Sept, however, as thats already shoulder season in the Rockies (winter starts in October ).

 

Skyladder is a very easy route you could fire off fairly quickly, however some of the North bowl climbs are more aesthetic.

 

N Face of Athabasca is the classic intermediate ice route there at the Icefields, but its a much longer, more demanding, and more committing route than Skyladder.

 

If you get good weather I would suggest you NOT miss E Ridge or N Face of Edith Cavell, its really one of the nicest alpine peaks anywhere.

[JesseH]

Alex,

 

Thanks for the info... Sounds like things will definetly be climbable as to what will probably have to figure out when we get there. Have you been on the n.f. of temple or andromada strain? Those are the two we are really interested in. Ive looked heavily into n.f. of alberta as well and it sounds like it has really varied over the years. A friend did it in the 80s and made it sound absolutely incredible but said that the yellow bands were all iced over so they were able to avoid much of the sketchy rock until way up on the route to which point it went super slow. Any thoughts as to where there would be recent beta... all the while knowing that it probably dosen't see ascents more than once maybe every two years or so. Our friend did it in sept. back then and recommended this time period for any effort towards it.

[jmckay]

Can't add much to alex poat

 

http://mckay.informalex.org/forum/

 

This site has a few photos of the area that you are interested in. Shooting Gallery. Remeber that you have a bit less light to work with .Its not getting light enough to see til 6:30 /7 instead of 4am. Winter snow conditiona are a possibilitie. Meaning slabs , faccetting, wind loading, trail breaking.

However with the right weather it can easily be the best time of the year to climb. <ess crowds, rock froze into place, great neve. My guess is that some steep hard routes are going to be easy this year because of all the moisture we have been getting early.

Joe

[Alex]

i would try live the vision for specific questions on a-strain or nf alberta, i have not personally done those routes so cannot comment. a-strain is somewhat of a trade route now, though, so you should be able to get some info on it.

Edited August 19, 2005 by fern

[W]

Alex,

 

Thanks for the info... Sounds like things will definetly be climbable as to what will probably have to figure out when we get there. Have you been on the n.f. of temple or andromada strain? Those are the two we are really interested in. Ive looked heavily into n.f. of alberta as well and it sounds like it has really varied over the years. A friend did it in the 80s and made it sound absolutely incredible but said that the yellow bands were all iced over so they were able to avoid much of the sketchy rock until way up on the route to which point it went super slow. Any thoughts as to where there would be recent beta... all the while knowing that it probably dosen't see ascents more than once maybe every two years or so. Our friend did it in sept. back then and recommended this time period for any effort towards it.

 

The north face of Alberta has apparently not been climbed since 1993; the word is that the ice has drastically receded from the foot of the upper headwall making things much harder. A number of people have speculated this route may now be more feasible as a winter or spring outing instead. September might be good if it is cold and the faces are showing a lot of ice, but be sure of it because the trek in there is quite a hump.

I climbed the A-Strain in mid September a few years ago. This was a good time to do it (that year, anyway) as nightime temperatures were well below freezing and during the day not much above. The risk you run is that snowfall is also possible which would make things much harder. An advantage of being there that late was that the summit cornice was much smaller than it is earlier in the summer. There is a good topo of the route in the Icefields visitor center.

[JesseH]

W thanks for the info on the strain and alberta. As for alberta, did some checking through some friends in canmore and evidently rumor has it that it hasn't been tried in the last ten years so your info sounds right. Evidently the yellow band is just too exposed like you were saying. Making all those photos you see taken in the 80s totally misrepresent what is there now. How did you like the A strain. Worth the while?

[specialed]

N Face of Alberta has been tried quite a few times recently by some pretty strong parties, who all retreated due to inadaquate ice. We did the NE Ridge last August and read some reports in the hut journal. The N face looked pretty bad - I think I posted some pics of it - I can't imagine it would be much better in September. Seems to me if you want to do it, earlier in the season, like April, would be better.

[jmckay]

http://mckay.informalex.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=58

 

 

May be a few pis of the NF taken from the SE shoulder 1999

[W]

W thanks for the info on the strain and alberta. As for alberta, did some checking through some friends in canmore and evidently rumor has it that it hasn't been tried in the last ten years so your info sounds right. Evidently the yellow band is just too exposed like you were saying. Making all those photos you see taken in the 80s totally misrepresent what is there now. How did you like the A strain. Worth the while?

 

Jesse,

 

The A Strain is a fine outing. While there is some heady climbing in places, the majority of it was surprisingly well protected and/or straightforward with good rock. A notable exception was the "Direct" chimney variation (Golovach Gash) we took instead of doing the traverses. This pitch was difficult and dangerously runout. Forrest led this and made a remarkable lead of it. The exit traverse pictured on the guidebook cover is also spicy but not nearly so much as the chimney. In between is a lot of climbing that is just plain fun. Go do it.

 

Attached is a photo of Alberta nf in August, 2000.