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Trip Report

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.

	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.
	Jason skins up above the gully into the rising sun. Bow Hut is to our right across the valley and out of the picture.
	Dave and Jason on the approach to Bow Hut.
	Crowfoot Mountain looms behind Blair as we work our way up steep slopes below the Bow Hut.
	A mini panorama of Crowfoot Mountain from just below the Bow Hut.
	A very cold summit shot of Jason taking the skins off his skis.
	Dave, Blair and Jason at the summit of Mount Gordon.
	Vern at the summit of Mount Gordon.
	Blair with the south end of Gordon and East and West Olive behind him from the summit of Mount Gordon.
	Jason skis across the Wapta with St. Nick partially obscurred in the clouds.
	A wintery view from the hut just before a fast and fun descent.
	A look back at the hut after descending the headwall.
	Portal Peak and Mount Thompson from the trail on the way back.