Gordon, Mount
On the shortest day of 2012 I was joined by Wietse and Kelly on an ascent of Mount Gordon on the Wapta Ice fields in bitterly cold but clear conditions.
The afternoon before, we had ski'd to the Bow Hut in marginal early season conditions across a groaning Bow Lake and barely-enough snow in the canyon. We made it to the hut with just a few minutes to spare before dark and enjoyed the hut entirely to ourselves.
[Skiing across Bow Lake in a white-out]
[Kelly comes up the canyon - I've never had to take my skis off to get up it before.]
After the longest, most relaxing sleep I've ever had in a hut before (no snoring!), we geared up and began the slog up the headwall and across the Wapta to Mount Gordon. Over night we'd had some extreme winds at the hut but the avalanche hazard didn't seem high on any of the slopes we were on, including the head wall above the hut and the steep flank of Gordon. Wietse broke trail the whole the way in 2-6" of fresh snow. It was bitterly cold (just like the first time I did Gordon) but the views made up for the temperatures and we kept moving to stay warm.
The Wapta is so much smaller than the Columbia Ice field - but Gordon is still a deceptively long way across the expanse of snow and ice. Skiing Collie or Ayesha in 1 day is a long and hard effort and this is obvious after doing Gordon!
[We roped up due to no visible tracks and early season conditions. There were no holes or really thin spots that we came across on our ascent so we didn't rope up for descent or subsequent trips.]
[Mount Thompson and Portal Peak just right of center. The Onion on the right and Rhondda / Habel on the far left.]
[Crossing the Wapta, Gordon on the left. Still a LONG ways to go from here! Click to view full size.]
[Cold and snowy]
[Mount Collie is such a beautiful peak. I can't wait to stand on its summit!]
[Looking back at St. Nicholas Peak and the twin summits of Mount Olive. Despite appearances, the summit on the far right is the highest one. Click for full size.]
As we worked our way closer and closer to the peak we realized how big it really is! At over 10,500 feet Gordon is higher than most other Wapta peaks even though it doesn't seem like it from afar. The north east flank isn't nearly as steep as it looks from a distance and we didn't even switchback on our way up it and around the giant wind scoop around the rocky cliff guarding the summit ridge. We took our skis off for about 4 feet of hard pack snow to gain the summit ridge before skiing all the way up to the summit.
[Ascending beside the cliff / giant wind scoop beneath Gordon's summit ridge.]
[Looking over the cliff band / wind scoop back towards our approach from the summit ridge.]
[Amazing views towards Mont Des Poilus and Mount Collie and the west from the summit ridge.]
[The final slog to the summit in clouds.]
As we ski'd to the summit in clouds we wondered if we'd get any views but as we topped out the clouds started to part and the stiff (cold!) wind died out completely! We were treated to sublime views in all directions including clouds, icy peaks and towering summit of pure white. I love the Wapta! We waited for a few minutes for the clouds to form and then clear again before the chill started settling in and it was time to enjoy the ski run down and then a nice warm hut!
[Kelly Smith on the summit of Mount Gordon]
[Looking to the north at Mount Collie (left) and Habel (right) from the summit.]
[Impressive views over Mont Des Poilus to the west.]
[Looking west]
[Vern on the summit of Gordon - with a view this time!!]
[Great views of the Diableret Glacier and mighty Mount Balfour - the highest peak on the Wapta!]
[A pano showing Hector (left), Balfour and even the Goodsirs in the background. Click for full size.]
The ski run down to the hut went with no issues. The snow was a bit slow due to the cold temps but it's a fast descent from the summit of Mount Gordon! None of the uphill issues you get with the peaks further north on the ice field.
[Looking down from the ridge as Kelly ski's around the wind scoop. Rhondda and Habel rise in the back ground.]
[Looking off the summit ridge just before dropping into the descent - Mont Des Poilus is the obvious mountain to the west.]
[The long southeast ridge of Rhondda is clearly visible in the back ground as we ski around the wind scoop to the right. It's also very clear from this angle that Habel is slightly higher than Rhondda.]
[Ayesha on the left and Rhondda / Habel on the right.]
[A very cool shot of Wietse and Kelly crossing the ice field on their way to the hut. St. Nicholas just peeks into the photo on the right and the Onion is in front of them. This shot shows why Gordon is such a great ski ascent - it's almost entirely downhill all the way back to the hut (or car if done as a one day ascent).]
[Looking ahead at Mount St. Nicholas on the left and the twin summits of Mount Olive on the right. The popular St. Nich / Olive col is in the center and is the most obvious and well used route to the Balfour Hut and the Wapta Traverse. Another option is via the Olive / Gordon col at the far right of this photo. Click for full size.]
[Another shot of Mount Collie.]
[Mount Ayesha shows up around the shoulder of Rhondda. That peak looks so sexy... ;-)]
[Looking back at our ski tracks descending from Gordon to the ice field.]
[Mount Thompson is a SLOG but it's a pretty peak nonetheless! Peyto Peak on the left.]
[The gorgeous twin summits of Mount Olive. The most popular line of ascent is via the St. Nich / Olive col at far left, but the snow ramp between the two summits also provides access in the right conditions.]
[In this view from underneath St. Nicholas, it looks like St. Nich must tower over everything on the Wapta, but in truth it's a relatively low ridge compared to everything else! It sure looks good from this angle though.]
[Steven Song and Kev Papke are coming up the headwall after getting to the Bow Hut on Friday afternoon. They were originally planning on tagging Vulture Peak but settled on the Onion after running out of daylight on the shortest day of the year.]
When we got back to the Bow Hut we passed Bill Kerr, Kev Papke and Steven Song going up the headwall to the main glacier. Originally the plan was that Bill would yo-yo the headwall while Kev and Steven would bag Vulture Peak but due to the shortened day light hours Kev and Steven bagged the Onion instead.
I visited with Bill, Kelly and Wietse in the hut for a while but then decided the skiing was simply too good and headed out for one last ski run before supper! For supper we enjoyed steak (cooked New York 1600 style directly in the wood stove), potatoes and carrots with red wine and other beverages. After some good conversation we retired for the night with the goal of skiing the 'fan' between the two summits of Mount Olive before either summitting or heading back to the hut and then skiing out.
[Kelly fries up the potatoes and carrots.]
[Enjoying the hut - all to ourselves!]
[Yum]
[Good times with friends in Bow Hut!]
[A sign that the world is probably going to end tonight. Wietse and Kev doing DISHES?! :)]
Well, the world didn't end on Friday night so we decided we might as well ski on Saturday. :) The weather was far from perfect however, so most of us ski'd the headwall a bunch of times and enjoyed the warmth of the hut in between ski runs. Kev and Steven were hard core and managed to bag Vulture Peak in less-then-ideal conditions but at least the visibility opened for their summit photos!
We ski'd back to the parking lot in very flat light and got lost a few times thanks to the low snow conditions compared to our usual trips! Overall this was an excellent trip.
[Just before skiing back down the headwall on Saturday.]
[Ski tracks down the head wall.]
[VERY flat light as we ski down the headwall beneath the hut, underneath the Vulture Ice cap. We saw several avalanches come off the cap while we were in the hut - thanks to high winds and fresh snow loading.]
[Skiing down the steep gully coming off the Little Crowfoot approach.]
[Kelly skis out of the canyon on the descent.]
Trip Report (Original Ascent)
I guess it was sort of inevitable. After 90 summits reached by non-mountaineering techniques I finally ventured into the world of ski mountaineering with a January ascent of Mount Gordon on the Wapta Icefields along with Dave Stephens, Blair Piggot and Jason Wilcox. Also very fittingly it was one of the most difficult ascents of my life so far - not because the ascent itself is so difficult but because I was suffering from a nasty headcold / flu.
I woke up the day before our outing with a fever and very bad cold. I didn't see how I was going to accomplish an ascent of Gordon in my condition but I went to bed early on Friday night and decided that I would give it a shot. Dave can never find my place in the morning so I wasn't surprised with Blair and him were half an hour late ;-). After we picked up Jason we were off to the Bow Lake parking lot.
We skinned up and left the parking lot under very brisk winter conditions at around 0815. Soon we were across the lake and heading up the narrow avalanche-exposed gully. We spaced out around 40 yards and quickly kept pace up through the canyon till we were above treeline about 1.5 hours from the parking lot. We could see the hut from this point and I thought we might make it in 2 hours. Dave thought more like 2:15. We quickly negotiated the steep headwall up to the hut and arrived at the hut 2:03 from the parking lot.
Up to this point I was feeling quite good but that was about to end promptly. Nobody seems to know why but we actually went into the nice warm hut and took a half hour lunch break. This was my undoing. Once we headed back out into the increasing wind and cold I was toast. My clothes were still damp from the hard push up to the hut and once Blair and Dave started up the Wapta I was totally out of energy. I also think my cold medication was running low at this point.
Eventually we made it up onto the icefield and started heading across to Mount Gordon. We couldn't see very much because of the clouds and wind-whipped snow but I could see enough to know that I want to go back when the sky is clear. The view up there must be simply fantastic!
As we struggled against the brutal wind my legs began to get heavier and heavier and I began to feel dizzy. It didn't help that the exposed parts of my face were freezing and my goggles were fogging up! I stopped Dave several times on the trip across the icefield and told him I was going back. Every time I would change my mind and kept going. Eventually we came to the base of Mount Gordon's final slopes and from there every step was agony for me. I had plenty of cardio but my head was playing games with me and my legs weighed about 400lbs! I felt like vomitting all the way up Gordon and several times I had to swallow hard or I would have got my new Helly jacket soiled.
Meanwhile Dave, who already has 3 Gordon summits under his belt, was praying that I would give up already and head back so he would have an excuse! (And I thought he was serious with all his encouragements to "keep going - we're only 10 minutes from the top"!)
Blair was at the summit before anyone else and eventually the rest of us struggled up behind him. Thanx to my slow pace it took us just over 5 hours for the total ascent. After taking our skins off and snapping a few pictures it was time for fun! The whole reason Dave and Blair 'dragged' Jason and I up Gordon was to get us hooked on ski mountaineering and I think it's safe to say that they succeeded! Apart from feeling like crap the ride down was amazing! It started with a steep descent off the ridge of Gordon with big sweeping turns in loose powder. The snow was flying up around my knees and I found myself lost in world of white and wind and a pounding in my chest as my legs worked hard to keep me from falling.
Blair and Dave made Jason and I look like amateurs as they executed perfect turns but I like to think we did pretty good. Because of the fresh snow, we had to ski back down the Wapta instead of simply coasting down but once we reached the slopes above the hut we were back to making turns again. This snow was windswept and loosely referred to as 'crap' by Dave and Blair. Jason used it as an excuse to make a spectacular sumersaulting wipeout in which one of his skis actually clipped him in the back of the head!
Despite Jason's protests (!) we bypassed the hut on the way down (you'll have to ask him) and descended a steep gully down the headwall below the hut one skier at a time. I followed Blair down the chute and was simply blown away by the speed and quality of the snow. After a few more awesome turns it was all over much too quickly as we plodded back down to the creek.
The only nervous part of the day for me was when we were descending a short and very steep slope into the creek. Blair went first with no problems and then Dave started out. There was a loud 'WHUMP' as he got into the creek and the slope settled a bit. I was quite nervous as I tried to negotiate down as fast as possible and Dave stuck around in case anything happenned. I went down without any further incident and then Jason started. He watched in surprise as a huge crack opened up in the snow but thankfully he made it down before it could release. We quickly skied out of the gully - again leaving a good 40 yards between us.
After a very long slog across the lake we were done! What an amazing day - I still can't believe I did the 1400 meters of height gain and 28km of skiing feeling as I was! A big THANK YOU to Dave and Blair for taking us out. Hopefully the first of many safe and successful winter ascents for me.
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Jason and Dave are spaced out already in anticipation of the hazardous gully on the way to the Wapta Icefields via the Bow Lake approach. |
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Jason skins up above the gully into the rising sun. Bow Hut is to our right across the valley and out of the picture. |
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Dave and Jason on the approach to Bow Hut. |
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Crowfoot Mountain looms behind Blair as we work our way up steep slopes below the Bow Hut. |
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A mini panorama of Crowfoot Mountain from just below the Bow Hut. |
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A very cold summit shot of Jason taking the skins off his skis. |
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Dave, Blair and Jason at the summit of Mount Gordon. |
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Vern at the summit of Mount Gordon. |
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Blair with the south end of Gordon and East and West Olive behind him from the summit of Mount Gordon. |
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Jason skis across the Wapta with St. Nick partially obscurred in the clouds. |
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A wintery view from the hut just before a fast and fun descent. |
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A look back at the hut after descending the headwall. |
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Portal Peak and Mount Thompson from the trail on the way back. |