Had a great time climbing Mt. Huber with fellow ACCers Vi Pickering & Elisabeth Dupuis over the Canada Day long weekend in Lake O’hara. Some notes on the route:
– The 5th class pitch through the lower ledges has 3 protection bolts and a two bolt anchor. While we brought a light trad rack, there was no need for it as the 3 bolts were sufficient protection for the one steep step. I did not place any rock gear on the entire climb.
– In general the route through the ledges is well marked by cairns. From afar it looks pretty steep and complicated, but in reality close up it was mostly 3rd class scrambling.
– We bivied (with a permit from Parks Canada) on the final rock ridge before the glacier. This was perfect for this climb for two reasons. First, it allowed us to climb through the lower ledges in daylight. Second, it allowed us to get onto the glacier, up the route, tag the summit, and be down to the Huber/Victoria col by 9:30am.
– The snow on the East facing slope was supportive on the way up, but was slush by 9am (The sun hits it dead on by 7:00am this time of year.) If we had been on the steep snow even an hour later we might have been turned back by deteriorating snow conditions.
– The North facing glacier had great travel with 6-12 inches of supportive snow on top of the ice. That made for quick travel and solid protection (we used a running belay with pickets lower down and ice screws higher up to keep our team of 3 on the mountain in the event of a fall). The angle reached up to 50 degrees at times, which would have made arresting a team-mate’s fall a challenge.