A high pressure in the forecast, a couple quick emails, some great friends, an amazing place to explore, this was an opportunity to not to be missed! The Columbia Icefield is a massive ice plateau hoisted up above 3000 meters by 11 peaks over 11,000 feet. Needless to say its very impressive and offers many different adventures that can be linked up in countless ways!
The common approach onto this plateau is heading up the Athabasca Glacier off highway 93 and slogging along the flats until you meet the gate keepers. Not a place to stop and take in the view parties quickly scoot under these large seracs and up a heavily crevassed climb. Once on top the vast Plateau you really begin to realize the scale of this place!
Our goal was head towards the twins and set up a camp from where we would be able to explore for a couple days. This camp as you can imagine had some ________ views....
On our first day we decided to head towards the Twins to explore and
hopefully make some summits. The approach was ant like and took us over 2
hours just to get to the base of the climb where we were able to recognize
that we would likely only have time for one summit. The North Twin it was and all of us were more then happy with challenges and opportunity's it offered.
On our second and last day we decided to go for Kitchener and Snow Dome
hoping to make it back for lunch and an easy camp take down in the
warmth. With a well positioned camp both peaks were well within reach
and we were able to really enjoy the climbs taking in the views.
Smiles on our faces effortlessly gliding home we had all the time in the world to think of the great moments we shared and all the potential adventures awaiting in the vast beautiful Columbia Icefields.
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