Alpine Club of Canada, Ottawa Section

Haddo Peak, Lake Louise, Banff National Park

Party: Dwight Yachuk, Markus Sanchez, Andre Fink, Darren DeRidder

Report by: Darren DeRidder August 15, 2003

Haddo Peak is a 3000M+ summit along the massif that divides Paradise Valley and Surprise Valley between Lake Louise and Mt. Temple.  The summits of Sheol, Haddo, and Aberdeen all stand atop this mountain wall. 

The views in this area, particularly of Mt. Temple’s immense and imposing north face, are just amazing.  Since we were given to understand that a climb of Haddo Peak and Mt. Aberdeen could be accomplished “easily within a day” via a “short approach”, a glacier walk involving “nothing too technical”, and a straightforward descent by “easy scrambling”, we trustingly started out from the Lake Louise parking lot at 6:30 a.m., a bit late for an alpine start, but reasonable within the context of our objective.

Three hours of hiking brought us to the summit of Fairview Mountain, where we discovered our true course lay not over the summit of this easy peak, but around it’s southern flank. 

Climbing up the scree

Undeterred, we proceeded to drop back into surprise valley and work our way up the moraines to the base of the Aberdeen glacier.  It was a Martian landscape of yellow, crumbling rock and a hazy, smoke-filled sky.  In this dry and monochromatic environment our perception of scale evaporated and we slogged on until the steep face of the glacier appeared above us.

The emaciated glacier

Hanging precipitously on the eastern slope of Mt. Aberdeen, the emaciated glacier, bereft of it’s snow cloak, appeared steep and dirty with the remnants of rockfall littering its sides.  Gone was the glimmering white snow ramp which would supposedly take us to the top with a mere two hours of pleasant step-kicking.  Disgorging our packs produced four ice screws, and after climbing unroped up 45 degree rock-encrusted ice, we employed them gladly as Dwight attacked the 60 degree glacier above for about four pitches.  With each pitch we became more aware of the size of the glacier over which we moved. 

Andre leading the snow pitches

The middle portion of the glacier was level enough to allow for roped, unbelayed climbing around numerous crevasses up to the final icefall. 

The bergschrund

The bergschrund up close and personal

Above us, the ice rose steeply to buttresses of rotten rock on the left, and on the right to overhanging seracs that dominated a chaotic array of crevasses and ice cliffs.  Surveying the route from below, the only possibility to advance  appeared to be to sneak up on near vertical ice between the rock buttress and the overhanging seracs, or to exit into a horribly loose system of rock gullies on the left.  Lacking rock gear, the choice was obvious.  Once again, Dwight demonstrated his ice climbing ability by gaining the top of the rock buttress via the steep ice face and soon had the rest of us alongside, gazing towards the Haddo / Aberdeen col a few hundred yards above and to our left.  Andre ran the rope up the snow slopes above and the rest of us followed through to the col. 

Gaining the top of the glacier

Approximately 12 pitches of poor quality ice on a rapidly melting glacier had gotten us through the crux of the climb.  At 4:30 in the afternoon we scampered easily to the bare summit of Haddo Peak.  Mt. Aberdeen beckoned us only a few hundred easy meters away, but we needed to descend quickly while the daylight lasted.

Andre peaks

Darren peaks

Markus peaks

Downclimbing was an exercise in faith as steep scree runs dropped over cliff bands below.  Scree-skiing carefully downwards, the team followed as Markus picked out the route through gullies and down snowfields.  One rappel brought us nearly to the base of the cliff bands.  Our 50 meter rope was not long enough. Markus pulled out a 15 meter piece of rope from his pack and extended the rappel.  We set off down the final scree slopes and crossed boulder fields and snow to the upper forested slopes of the mountain.  Paradise Valley lay far below.  Scrambling down dry stream beds and bushwhacking along grizzly bear paths brought us at long last to the valley floor just as night was closing in.  Darkness fell in noticeable increments as the sun slipped behind one range, then another.  The trail appeared suddenly in front of us and we could not have been happier. 

Alas, our trip was far from finished.  Following signs, we proceeded towards Lake Louise via Saddleback Pass, only to become discouraged as we headed higher and higher into the mountains.  Finally the consensus turned towards backtracking to Paradise Valley and hiking out to the road.  Not knowing that we were only a few kilometers from Lake Louise at this point, we turned back and retraced our steps.  The hike out of Paradise Valley to the trailhead was even longer than our first detour.  Headlamps dimmed as we pounded the downhill track in our heavy boots.  At last the parking lot appeared and we walked four abreast down the Moraine Lake road, each one suffering in dehydrated silence and hobbling on legs that felt like bloody stumps.  19 hours and counting.

A truck appeared; we were saved!  Piled in the back of the pickup, we coasted along and felt the darkness rushing past as an exhilarating wind on our faces.   The night no longer impeded us, but enveloped us with a warm and comforting embrace. I closed my eyes and listened to the drone of the tires. 

Alpine Club of Canada, Ottawa Section

Haddo Peak, Lake Louise, Banff National Park

Party: Dwight Yachuk, Markus Sanchez, Andre Fink, Darren DeRidder

Report by: Dwight Yachuk

August 15, 2003

There was something different about today’s trip. No, it wasn’t the unknown route up Haddo that Darren, Marcus, Andre and I were going to climb. No, it wasn’t the late 6:30 AM start, a careful read of the guidebook indicated that we could finish the route between 8 and 12 hours. No, it was the pack, specifically the extra weight in the pack that I had been avoiding for the last two weeks. Fully loaded down with rope, crampons, helmet, harness, slings, biners, ice axe and ice screws as well as clothes, food and water, the pack was heavier than it had been before.

Haddo Peak 3070 m From Lake Louise parking lot, follow Saddleback trail to the Saddleback-Fairview col.

And slower, not the pack, but myself. While we started out together, at each rest stop or branch in the trail I found myself lagging way behind. Perhaps it was the accumulated fatigue of being out there the last ten days. Perhaps I was just getting old.

Staying high, contour around the south slopes of Fairview Mountain before dropping down into Surprise valley.

Quite the surprise all right. We stayed so far to the right and so high that we climbed Fairview mountain instead of skirting it’s southern flank. Oh well, an extra peak in the bag I thought as we scree skied back to the valley floor.

The rest of the approach to Haddo Peak was as if we were hiking on Mars. Large red boulders, ruddy red earth and crumbling peaks and walls surrounded us as we hiked up to the mountain. Marcus made good use of the acoustic qualities of the valley to give us ringing echoing renditions of his various whistles and yodels. It was closing in on 9AM, the sun was up and we were baking in this boulder-strewn oven.

Finally we reached the toe of the glacier, doffed our packs and put on our helmets, harnesses and crampons. We were back in the shade again and out came the jackets and gloves.

Climb up the toe of the Aberdeen glacier.

Andre did a fine job of showing us French crampon technique as we crabbed our way up the foot of the glacier. A sharp seraced wall rose to the right. The left wall was smooth but ended in crevasses at the top of the first section of the glacier. The only way up was up the left shoulder taking care to traverse right before meeting the crevasses above, but not traversing too soon as the seracs awaited us on the right. We stopped a boulder to gear up. I reached down to pick up a shiny object off the ice. A good luck token for our climb? It was a broken ice pick from a mountaineering axe. Someone had been here before and they had run into trouble.

Breach the steeper part of the glacier left to right in order to avoid the biggest crevasses. The bergschrund below the upper glacier is smallest on the left (east) side. There is nothing too technical making it a good introduction to this type of climbing which explains its popularity.

And what type of climbing was that??? Perhaps this glacier had been snow covered once but now it was definitely ice. I had only been up a glacier snow ramp only once before, Pioneer Pass at Fairy Meadows. We had climbed three pitches on 60 degree snow before running into ice for half a rope length. This climb would be harder.

As fate would have it, I was wearing my foot fangs, excellent for ice climbing, and I found myself on the pointy end of the rope. We had four ice screws between us and in addition to a 50 meter half rope, we had a 20 meter half rope, something I had cut down for short roping. I took all four planning to set two screws on the way up and using the two others as anchors when I ran out of rope. I would climb all the way to the end of the 50 meter rope and then belay the others as they simul-climbed, tied together on the 20 meter rope.

The first pitch

The ice was good, taking the mountaineering axe and crampons quite well. The angle wasn’t severe, approximately 70 degrees, but that meant calf searing foot placements and rest stops once in a while.

Dwight leads pitch 2 or 3

We climbed two pitches, each time luckily enough to find a small ledge, just big enough so you could get a foot down sideways. At the end of the first pitch I had to surrender one of the ice screws for the hanging belay and another for an anchor. The boys were well protected, tied into three ice axes and two screws. However that left me with one screw for protection and a screw/ice axe combination for belaying.

Boys on belay

The third pitch brought us up near the top of the first section of the glacier. The angle eased off here but I found myself threading my way through crevasses. A fourth pitch found us on snow.

Andre took over the lead here as we short roped up to what looked like a huge bergschrund, crossing several crevasses on the way. A steep climb up the right and Andre was on the bergschrund lip, crossing from right to left. A quick belay up the center of the bergschrund and all four of us were on its lip.

There was a snow bridge to the far right and Andre led up and away. I handed him a snow picket, which he got in before the snow thinned and turned to ice. We were on the extreme left of the glacier now as Andre jammed his ice axe between the glacier edge and the rock. We were all feeling a little frazzled by now and we discussed exiting onto familiar rock but it was very crumbly and we didn’t have any rock gear. Wisely we stayed on the ice and again I found myself in the lead,

To our left was crumbling rock. Overhead was a rock band. To the right of the rock band, the seracs started again. I climbed up and right, aiming for a narrow ice channel between the rock and the seracs. Andre called out that the ice was overhanging. I took a deep breath and looked up. No, it wasn’t overhanging but it sure looked vertical. With two ice climbing axes this would have been fun. With a single mountaineering axe it was…hum… challenging. My hope as to get to the rock band and belay from above. “Ten meters” Andre called, “five meters, two meters”. I was about five meters below the rock band. Springlets of water were gushing down on either side of me. The ice was near vertical. I screwed in my only ice screw and hammered in my axe making a belay station off these two. “On belay” I called kneeling below my hanging belay. Thank god for these schoeler pants I thought or I’d be sopping wet and cold. Thank god to for Gabriel, Lynn’s guardian angel, whom Lynn sent out on every trip to watch over us.

The rest of the gang came up below me. I had them set up a station about 2 meters below. I joked with Marcus that he could fill up his empty water bottle at the rushing spring but the jovial camaraderie was gone replaced by a sense of nervousness as all three slammed their ice axes and ice screws into the wall. It was a place that none of us wanted to be. I didn’t mention the two small rocks that had bounced off my helmet from the rotten cliff above.

When you start climbing there are lots of people around to take the lead, show you the ropes, and provide that pillar of strength when the going got tough. Over time you find that those people have disappeared and others look to you. I looked around for someone else to hand the lead over to. There was no one. All eyes were on me.

The worst thing is not knowing and I couldn’t see what was above the rock band as I climbed up. At one point I was directly below an easy chimney flowing with water. The illusion of solid ground tempted me. Should I go for it? No, I was more comfortable on the ice even though I was rapidly running out of maneuvering room. I had a narrow ribbon of about 1 meter between the overhanging seracs and the rock band. Another 2 meters would tell the tale of whether there was a way out or if I had hit a dead end.

The ice held and I continued past the rock band until I could see a ledge on the left. A few for steps and I gingerly put my left foot on the rock. It held and I stepped onto the ledge, safe for now but ten meters above my last pro. A couple of switchbacks between ledges, another 20 feet up and I was at the bottom of the third section of the glacier. It was ice-covered snow and the going seemed easier. The ice was thin and it took three tries to find sufficient ice to hold a screw. I noticed an ablokov in the ice. Someone had rapped down here recently. I slung the screw, ice axe and ablokov and belayed the rest of the party up.

The edge of the glacier was running with water and I had gotten pretty wet putting in the ice screw. My gloves were shredded and we were in the shade. I was shivering with all my clothes on and my hands were alternating freezing cold and numb.

Thankfully the final three pitches were snow-covered ice which Andre led. To the right was Mount Amberdeen, the left, the col and then Mount Haddo. Andre seemed to want to keep right on the ice but our cries of beseachment made him turn left and soon we were all basking in the sun on the rocky col. It was 6:30 PM. The 5-8 hour climb to the summit had taken us 12 hours. All we had to do know was hike over to Mount Haddo (Mt. Aberdeen could wait for a return trip) and then find our way down. But that’s another adventure!

Stay tuned for “Lynn calls in the Rangers” as she beseeches them, “It’s after 11 PM and I’m sure Andre is hungry!!!”

Note: The boys made it safely back by 2 PM, 19 hours after departing, but too late for last call!

Andre, Lynn, Dwight, Tony (our host), Darren and Markus