Mount Hector - September 13, 2003
Mountain height: 3,394 m (8,741 feet)
Elevation gain: 1,530 m (we made the “consolation summit”, about 15 vertical
metres lower than the true summit
Ascent time: approx. 9 hours
Descent time: 4 hours
Mountaineering with Mark and Marc Goulet.
What
a day! Up at 3:15 am, a 2 hour drive to the south end of the Icefields
Parkway, 13 plus hours of phenomenal mountaineering, with an unpleasant
bout of “bonking” on descent, and an extended 3.5 hour return drive
that got us back into Calgary at 12:30 am Sunday morning. The
outstanding weather, unbeatable scenery, and incredible summit view
combined to make this one of our most exceptional trips to-date.
Starting the ascent at 7:10 am, we quickly made our way up and around a couple
of very scenic waterfalls and up to the basin leading to Hector
Glacier. The summit of Little Hector eventually came into view and was
stunning in the morning light and covered in a fresh layer of snow. Our
excitement tripled as Little Hector’s big brother (and our destination)
appeared to the left.
2
hours in, we arrived at the foot of the glacier and stopped to put on
our crampons and rope up. Even here, there was a terrific crevasse - a
mere trifle of things to come. We were expecting an easy ascent with
maybe one or two small crevasses to overcome on the way. We basically
spent the next 5 hours carefully negotiating our way through fields of
gaping crevasses, some almost 10 metres wide, 30-40 metres deep, and
hundreds of metres long - it was absolutely incredible! Along the way
we crossed at least 20 snowbridges. Most of them were quite solid,
however, on several occasions the 2 Marks punched through, revealing
seemingly bottomless, black holes and giving both of them quite a
start. After our recent Athabasca Glacier trip, I thought that it would
be a long, long time before I was saw such phenomenal scenery. The
Hector Glacier was every bit as awe-inspiring and far more dangerous.
The
last of three groups making their way towards the summit, we continued
on slowly and very carefully. Marc Goulet was a great compliment to our
small team, as he was very adventurous and had no problem trying the
more difficult and dangerous looking terrain. Unfortunately, at this
point, I was starting to feel a little ill - a combination of not
eating enough and the hot sun - and realized that I was in the bonking
danger zone. I felt better after eating, but knew that it would catch
up with me later. We continued on getting some good crampons practice
up steep icy slopes.
Approximately
8 hours after leaving the parking lot, we arrived at a small col in
between the summit block and a false summit. Of the two parties already
there one had tried and failed to reach the true summit and the other
hadn’t even made an attempt. Unfortunately, the new snow that made this
one of the most scenic trips to-date, also rendered the final push to
the summit a virtual death-trap. With a new layer of snow that was too
thin and unconsolidated for kick-steeping and nowhere to place adequate
protection, it was a very risky proposition at best. We made the
attempt, but backed down when confronted with a short, but vertical
rock band that would have been very dangerous to downclimb.
As
the two other parties had done before us, we took the 5 minute trip to
the “consolation” summit, where there was an unbelievable panorama. It
would probably be easier for me to list the “giants” that I could not
see! Besides great views of Assiniboine, Ball, Temple
and the entire Lake Louise Group, Stephen, Chephren, Balfour and others
on the Wapta Icefield, there was even an unexpected appearance by Mount
Sir Douglas.
The first part of the descent was great. Again we had to be very careful
about hidden crevasses and snowbridges and on one occasion, Mark actual broke
through a bridge while crawling across it. I pulled him over very quickly,
before he could fall in, but it was a good reminder of the inherent dangers of
glacier travel. By the time we got to the bottom of the glacier, I had a very
bad headache and was in full bonking mode. The last 2.5 of the descent were miserable
for me.
Overall, a fantastic trip and an unbelievable day for the three
of us.
Mount Hector (distant left) and Little Hector (looking very big!)
Looking down a "little crevasse"
A bigger one!
The grade steppens
At the consolation summit, with the true summit behind
A small part of the amazing view
Mark and Mark
Looking back at the summit