[TR] Columbia Ice Fields - Slipstream 4/8/2009

[Dane]

Trip: Columbia Ice Fields - Slipstream

 

Date: 4/8/2009

 

Trip Report:

Slipstream on the 2nd ascent walk in, Jan '81.

 

A real treat for me...pictures from Jim Elzinga of John Lauchlan on the 1st ascent of Slipstream, Dec. '79.

 

I think these are from the first waterfall section mid route.

 

 

 

For those into such things. John and Jim used Forest Serac Sabers that they cut down and modified the picks on the 1st ascent. They had leather boots and SMC rigid crampons. All of us except Gary used umbilicals. I lead all the water ice with the Clogs shown below on the 2nd ascent. Gary used the curved tools. Gary had some of the first plastic Kolflachs in the country having bought his in Europe that fall while climbing in Chamonix. I had Haderer singles with super gaiters. Gary used Chouinard rigid crampons and I was on SMC rigids.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

The upper slope provides the continued spindrift avis while on route. And the same slope loads and slabs off from the ice cap and sweeps the entire route clean many times each winter. The spindrift avis you'll likely live through. The powder snow slab avis are a toss up to live through depending where you are on the route when it happens. The nasty one will be part of the serac coming off. If you are in the waterfall pitches you may live through that..it has happened. Check out the condiiton of the serac barrier before you leave the highway.

 

Past that, climb fast...take the gear you need to do that. Get off in the light so you can find your way down the descent gully and stay out of the crevassed nighmare (beware) on top of Snow Dome. Walking off the south side of Snow Dome (been done) and down the Athabasca is not recommended.

 

Climb has up to 6 pitches of WI3/4+ ( depending again on rope length) and maybe a bit of old style WI5. Nothing really hard by today's standards. Climb has every bit as much ice as Polar Circus and can be just as hard technically but is much, much longer and adds the combinded effects of a big mountain with all the objective hazards to go along with that. So becareful and pick the right conditions.

 

Approach Notes:

Couple of hrs up the glacier from the highway. Most walk in as the snow gets blown off pretty fast. And you don't want to be on this route if there is a lot of new snow around.

[Braydon]

awesome, rad, sick, sweet...thats all i got

[genepires]

Anyone have any idea how often slipstream gets done anymore? I once had it on my "list" but it has slid down as I got older and scratched off as I got a child. Something about Mark Beebie dieing there.

 

Still looks real awesome though. Sweet that people got up it in such old gear. Bad asses back in the day!

[trainwreck]

i'd be surprised if it gets done once a season now. i've been living out here for 5 years and in that time i know of one ascent. i am sure it gets done a little more often than what i have heard/seen but it isn't very frequently.

[Dane]

I think as the body count has gone up the climbers willing to get on it has gone down. In the '80s it was done fairly often. But when I asked recently for photos or personal accounts I had responses on Temple, Cavell and Polar Circus. None on Deltaform and Slipstream if that tells you anything.

 

By the Parks Canada records Deltaform and Slipstream are two of the most lethal mtns in the parks with Kitchener and Cavell a close second.

 

There has been a lot of discussion on conditions and global warming being part of that cause. I would disagree. Today all these climbs are worthy objectives. I find that most aren't willing to wait for perfect or even good conditions. I suspect the seduction of "easy" classics close to the road more the problem for Deltaform and Slipstream.

 

Last climb of Slipstream I heard of was in GRIPPED the last year or so. Pretty common climb on a ice climber's resume today. The GRIPPED climb was done in the fall before a big load of snow. Fall or late spring climbs seem perfectly reasonable with low snow and cold conditions. Grant (Trainwreck) would have a much better idea of how often it gets done though. But given the fact Polar Circus got done well over 50 times this season (not the best season either) by Tyler's estimates (the Rampart Hostel Host) I suspect Slipstream sees some traffic mid winter that most aren't going to be privy to.

[Dane]

Thought some might enjoy reading of a recent trip on Slipstream. Good to see one of my past climbing partners still getting out and scaring himself

 

 

May 3, 2009

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/may/03/roskelley-duo-chills-out-on-icy-waterfall-climb/

 

 

Spokane climbers John and Jess Roskelley shared some quality time in a room with an incredible view last weekend during their visit to Alberta’s Columbia Icefields.

 

The only price the father-son team paid was enduring the night at minus 10 degrees without sleeping bags huddled in a tiny snow cave on a vertical ice cliff.

 

Cheap.

 

“We just got caught out,” shrugged John, 60, a former Spokane County commissioner and one of America’s premier mountaineers in the 1970s and ’80s. “These things happen occasionally when you climb challenging routes.”

 

The Roskelleys were climbing a difficult snow, ice and waterfall route known as Slipstream (IV, WI4), which leads to the 11,322-foot summit of Snow Dome in Jasper National Park.

 

The pair had climbed Mount Everest together in 2003, when Jess, now 26, temporarily became the youngest American to climb the peak.

 

“We thought we were fast enough to get up it in a day, but a lot of little things added up,” John said.

 

“It’s considered one of the finest alpine routes in the Canadian Rockies and is seldom climbed because of the commitment, difficulties, and objective dangers, such as avalanche, falling ice and the massive cornice at the top, which breaks off occasionally, not to mention the very technical climbing.”

 

Park rangers take notice when climbers log in at the Icefields Visitor Center to climb Slipstream.

 

“We started Sunday in really good weather, but by noon it was deteriorating. Clouds came in and it started snowing and we were getting a lot of spindrift avalanches down the face burying us on our belays and slowing us up.

 

“The ice climbing was very difficult up high and there was virtually no place to get out of the conditions. We were lucky to find a spot where we could kick out a snow cave about 200 feet from the top. It was the only place I spotted on the whole route where we could even sit down.

 

“It was a good climb,” he said, summarizing the big picture.

 

Pressed for more details, he said neither of them slept during the night.

 

“We had our down coats to wear and stove to melt snow, but nothing else extra,” he said. “We sat on one pack and put our feet in the other pack and just hugged each other and shivered all night.”

 

Fortunately, the weather cleared into a spectacular, windless, starry night. Even though the temperatures plummeted, the snowfall stopped and kept the route from getting too dangerous.

 

Said Roskelley, “On Monday morning, the sun came up and low and behold it shined right into our cave with welcome warmth. That really helped us get moving and into our equipment and frozen boots.”

 

The pair finished the last pitch of the climb and briefly enjoyed the stunning view under blue skies. As they were beginning their descent down the dome, toward an area of crevasses and a gully, a helicopter flew by.

 

“We were a day late, so I knew the climbing rangers might be concerned,” Roskelley said. “I gave them a thumbs up to show we were OK, but they circled and landed anyway.

 

“They offered us a lift out, since they were already up there flying. It was the easiest descent I’ve ever made. In five minutes we were back at the Visitor Center. It saved us five hours of trudging and two rappels.”

 

 

[TMO]

Nice to see John is still getting after it!

[Gregg_C]

Slipstream can be a very dangerous climb in many conditions. It doesn't take much for the balance to get tipped on that face. I walked into the base of that route four times before I finally climbed it in Jan. of '86. On one occasion it started raining at the bivy (in February!!). John Culberson and I climbed it with six belayed pitches and lots of simul climbing to just make the top in the dark from a bivy below the face. It was certainly nice to make it back to the hostel that night. A small storm hit us halfway up and we got to experience the inspiration behind the name. Six inches of spindrift every two to three minutes would wash over us. Pretty scary stuff when you are that exposed. It was a few year later that accidents started happening on this route as more climbers added it to there to do list. Falls, avalances...it as all a bit sobering.

 

John at the belay at top of the one pitch of steep climbing on the route.

 

 

 

 

[Dane]

Gregg's picture....of John Culberson on Slipstream.

 

 

 

[olyclimber]

Wow...really cool Dane! Thanks for sharing this!