Columbia Icefield via Saskatchewan Glacier May/21

To preface, this trip was a mild disaster. But, we learnt a lot about the Saskatchewan glacier, physical limits, and how quickly a ski will ski by itself. My birthday is in the first week of may, so unofficially this was a party, to which we invited 2 friends. I'd also just got a new tent from Hyperlite, which isn't relative to the story but is pretty cool. 

The new tent! It is the 4 person Ultamid floorless tarp. And it only weighs 1.44 lbs/652g!  Packability isn't phenomenal but the weight saving is unbeatable. And it's waterproof.

We start the day at the pull off on the big bend (icefields parkway), not early, but a reasonable 9:something. Our goal was to just make it onto the icefield and set up camp, as we had 5 days designated. We start hauling our massive packs in towards the glacier, across the expansive flats of where the Sask glacier used to reign. There was still enough good snow that travel was smooth, until just below the ice where there were thawing moats. 

Snow was still present and abundant enough that we never had to take our skis off on the way in.

Geared up for the glacier  and started the 8km long trudge up the steady incline. Great coverage the whole time and didn't see one crevasse. There is minor danger towards the headwall, from seracs on climbers left off Mount Castleguard. Upon cresting the steep final section, we circled a bit around Mt Andromeda and made camp, at around 4pm. Now that we were in direct sunlight on the big flat icefield, the snow was sticking badly to our skins. Had a chill evening, because an early wake up for Snowdome was on the table for tomorrow. 

Phil chilling with the final evening glow over Mount Bryce

Woke up at 5am and were moving by 7am. It's a bit shocking how much slower you are to get moving when it's freezing and snowy outside. Everything takes more time - making water, heating breakfast, getting out of the sleeping bag, putting ski boots on and trying not to grimace. 

The first light chasing the moon to bed behind Castleguard. Our tracks from the day before trailing away.

The route up Snowdome is quite straight forward, but crevasses pose a constant threat for the entirety of the climb. Always rope up, even if you can't see a hole! 

Snow Dome is not so impressive from it's backside, as opposed to what faces the Icefields Parkway. It's elevation is 11,339ft, ranking 22nd in Bill Corbett's list of Canadian Rockies 11,000ers

Our group summitted Snow Dome at 11:30am and took the mandatory hydrological apex summit tinkle. Took a bit longer to get to the top, but we're on holidays! One friend stepped in a crevasse on the summit, a minute after he decided to ski down not connected to the rest of the team. So yes, the top of Snow Dome is still very much crevassed - and only going to get worse.

Not much of view on the top today. And it was windy.

Zoomed back to camp in an hour and took a good break for lunch. Then 3 of us decided to ski the shoulder of Castleguard, for an extra little excursion for the day. Marty and I practiced skiing down roped up, but I took a tumble in the front, causing Marty to then fall, and as a consequence ejected from one of his skis. We watched it ski down the slope, make an unbelievable 90 degree turn and, to our horror, ski off down the vast Saskatchewan glacier. 

Our buddy skied back to camp to let our other friend know what happened, while Marty skied one-legged down the glacier, with me behind feeling foolish. How far did it go? Did it fall in a crevasse? Would we even find it? Do we have to go all the way to the bottom to find it? Bugger...

We see an abnormity far in the distance on the major flat section just past Castleguard on skiers right. It's the ski! Relief. We sit and moan about the whole situation for a bit, then start back up hill again. Just 15 minutes from camp, we see our two friends skiing down towards us. They had everything with them. The whole camp packed haphazardly, making them teeter under the weight. Dang. Guess we're going home. 

We had crossed this pond confidently the day prior with no issue - the next day it was melting fast. The same happened to all the snow but much quicker. It was shocking how little was left after just 30 hours.  

Admittedly, the ski down the glacier was a lot of fun - low-angle and a constant glide. A good workout for the quads though. Ouch. Upon reaching the end of the glacier, 80℅ of the snow on the glacial flat was gone. Regrettably, I did not take the time to attach my skis to my pack, but hoisted them over my shoulder and sauntered off through the mud and rocks. Hiking in ski boots is quite shit, frankly. I don't think anyone was having fun at this point. Finally made it to the trees and we could put them back on. Then to just really top off the day, not 100m from the car at the crossing over the North Saskatchewan River, I slipped off a rock and fell face first into the (shallow) water. My pack held me down for one second longer than I liked and when I resurfaced, I looked around and no one was there to watch my epic fail! Wasted anti-talent. 

So, of a 5 day, epic, multi-peak bagging trip, we scored one 11,000er, retrieved a rogue ski and concluded we probably won't ever travel on the Saskatchewan glacier in order to access the Icefield summits ever again. This is mainly due to time. However, it is a great easy and safe ramp if you were to summit Castleguard, or other peaks to the south. I highly recommend brakes on skis!