The Ascent Of Mount Victoria

by W. Kelsey

seen across Lake Louise, framed between the dark forested mountain sides, the huge snow-covered east face of Mount Victoria, 11,365 feet, sweeps up 4,000 feet to the long, level, summit ridge. This summit ridge, part of the continental Great Divide, drops steeply at each end; at the north to the Kicking Horse Pass and the Canadian Pacific Railway, at the south to the Abbot Pass, 9,598 feet, between Victoria and Lefroy. A hut on the Abbot Pass is used in the ascent and although it is possible to reach it from Lake Louise, two hanging glaciers above a narrow box canyon deter all but the least imaginative climbers. The normal approach route is from Lake O’Hara on the west side of the mountain and it was from there that we started. Un­fortunately, from this side, Victoria is hidden behind several other smaller peaks and it was not until some time later that we could see the true shape of the mountain we had climbed. The route, we had been told, was straightforward, just follow the trail to the Abbot Pass hut, a mere four hours walk. From there on, we understood, the route was obvious.

There were three of us, Neil, Benny, and myself, straight from the plains of Manitoba. We had walked up the eight miles of forest trail from Wapta to Lake O’Hara the night before, and so it was not until four in the afternoon that we left that idyllic spot and took to the trail by the lake and up through the trees. Once above the tree line we followed the trail past a series of clear, emerald green glacier lakes until it finally disappeared on a scree slope by the shores of the highest lake. On our left, long slopes of scree and glacier mud descended from beneath huge crumbling buttresses, while round the head of the lake similar slopes descended from beneath the snow mantle of Lefroy. The buttresses we presumed to be part of the lower slopes of Victoria, and so we chose a large scree slope beyond them as a means of ascent. At first we made rapid progress where the scree slope was well consolidated with the glacier mud, and then over large beds of old snow. These were soon feft behind and it was as the scree slopes steepened and contracted into a large gully that the diffi­culties began. We were soon sliding back one step out of every two forward and progress became funereal. Some six hours after starting we were struggling up the gully, hanging onto the walls and attempting to stablise the moving ground beneath our feet. Thus far we had come across no sign of human passage and as our view was very hmited, the possibility that we could be wasting our time in the wrong gully was only too evident. Benny was having a very bad time as this was his introduction to mountaineering, and we were all very much out of condition. Seven hours after leaving Lake O’Hara we stumbled out of the gully onto the narrow ridge of the Abbot Pass to see the hut some short distance to the left. We were very much exhausted and barely able to eat anything before going to bed.

Early next morning we were awakened by a guided party moving about. Benny was feeling unwell as a result of his exertions the night before so Neil and I made the usual scanty breakfast and left the hut as it was becoming light, slightly ahead of the other party. Behind the hut a faint track followed the crest of the ridge until it joined the main mass of the mountain. Above a plinth of vertical cliff a rounded buttress soared steeply up for about 500 feet. As it approached this band of vertical rock the ridge of the pass twisted sharply to the right to a narrow breach, and by an easy scramble we reached the buttress above. Although steep the buttress was in the last stages of decay, and in places resembled a scree slope. Much of the rock was held in place by friction alone and one particular strata that I remember bore a distinct resemblance to compacted coal dust. At the top of the buttress we emerged on a snow shoulder below the next upward sweep of the ridge. The day was gloriously fine already and the snow was hard from the night frost. Slightly in front, having passed us on the buttress, the guided party were kicking steps across the snow. By taking a low line across a rocky patch we kept our step-kicking to a minimum and crept in front of them. The ridge above was easy, but loose and broken, and required care. On either side the exposure was tremendous, resembling somewhat the south-east ridge of the Finsteraarhorn. To the left huge cliffs dropped vertically to Lake O’Hara, which was now visible among the woods, 5,000 feet below. To the right the snow slopes descended very steeply to a small hanging glacier, 1,500 feet below, before taking an even bigger plunge to the valley beyond.

About an hour after we had left the hut we scrambled onto the first pinnacle of the ridge at about 10,500 feet. For the first time we saw the upper part of the mountain; a knife edge of snow sweeping in a series of crescents into the far distance. On either side there was the same tremendous exposure, vertical depths to the left and a sweeping snow slope to the right. Behind us as we had been cfimbing, the bulk of Lefroy loomed very close and beyond, the shapely peaks of Hungabee and Deltaform cast their long shadows across the pine forests at their feet. In all directions from horizon to horizon, a sea of mountains thrust their jagged tops into the clear blue sky.

The guided party passed whilst we were taking photographs and we did not catch them up again until we had reached the summit. A few minutes later we turned to the descent of the far side of the pinnacle. Here the crescent of the snow ran steeply down for about 100 feet before levelling off, and the descent of this short steep stretch, with that enormous exposure in front, we found to be the most intimidating part of the whole ridge. Fortunately the snow was in good condition and we were soon moving quickly together along the beautiful, undulating, knife-edge of snow. The general angle of the ridge was quite easy and we made height slowly, until an abrupt step in the ridge of several hundred feet appeared to bar our progress. By traversing to the right across the snow we reached a horizontal band of sound rock and gained the snow slope above by a steep crack about 15 feet high. Traversing again right and then left, back across the snow, we were soon out on the crest of the ridge again. Our height now was nearly 11,000 feet and at this point we encountered a bitterly cold wind. Above the step the ridge became mixed snow and rock, but still very narrow. In the teeth of the icy blast we pressed on as fast as possible and at last reached the summit cairn about three hours after leaving the hut, just as the guided party were leaving to return. We quickly extracted the copper cylinder from the cairn, attached our names to the list inside, took a quick look round, and sprinted back along the ridge. Below the step and out of the wind we thawed ourselves in the sun as we ate our second breakfast. The guided party was already a long way back along the ridge, and as soon as we stepped onto the snow we could understand their reason; out of the cold wind the snow was softening quickly in the heat of the sun. We had to move more carefully but experienced no undue difficulty until we reached the face of the first pinnacle. The slope here was very steep, the same steepness as the face below, and the soft condition of the snow left little security. Our rope was too short to reach to the top of the pinnacle while one man was securely anchored on the horizontal part of the ridge. The usual ” You jump left if I go right” precautions were taken but fortunately the snow was just firm enough and we were soon on top of the pinnacle. The descent to the shoulder went easily but the rock buttress below proved much more difficult to descend than to climb. The hut could be seen but the breach in the cliff was not obvious. To avoid each other’s line of fire we moved down slowly in parallel tracks to where we thought the breach should be, but at the bottom we were forced to make a delicate traverse across the dangerously loose rock before we could scramble down and run down the track to hut.