When Dave proposed a ski mountaineering trip with the objective of climbing Ayesha or Collie (or maybe even both), a number of members were excited by the objectives. The enthusiasm was only marginally tempered by two previous trips that had suffered poor weather. The forecast was for cloudy weather on our middle day (Saturday) but improving weather on the Sunday. Ever the optimists we hoped that we would get a window of opportunity.

We gathered at Sim's place on Friday morning and drove to Canmore to pick up Bob. Upon arrival at Bow Lake, the visibility was reasonable but the peaks were obscured.

Cloud on peaks

The trip up to Bow Hut was straightforward, although the hard packed snow promised an exciting return trip. Beyond Bow Hut, we climbed into white-out conditions. It required a combination of compass and GPS work to navigate over the Gordon – Rhondda divide and down on to the B.C. section of the Wapta Icefield. We camped east of the slope up to the Collie plateau, although little was visible at the time.

Saturday morning varied from closed in conditions to somewhat promising openings of blue sky. By noon, we had decided to ski toward Ayesha and, if conditions held, start up.

Ayesha Saturday morning

Once closer to the peak, three climbers could be seen ahead of us. We followed their steps up a rather elegant snow ridge that bordered a wind scoop to the main south ridge.


Climbing Ayesha's snow ridge

Moving along the ridge, we encountered the other team at a short scrambly section. These fellows had started that morning from the highway, had successfully summited, and were on their way back. - obviously a strong, fast team. We continued up the rock and further along the ridge to the summit block in increasingly blizzard like conditions. At this point, the wind, the driving snow and the declining visibility resulted in a unanimous decision to abort. The return was a bit tricky as our footprints had been obliterated and it took a bit of investigation to find the return route down the snow ridge. Soon, we were back to the skiis and heading back to camp. Again, it was a complete white-out - compass and GPS were required to find the tents.


High point on Ayesha

Back at camp

Later, conditions cleared and we felt that Sunday may be our big chance.

Clearing Saturday evening

Sunday morning dawned with the same varying conditions that caused our enthusiasm to see-saw.


Cloud Sunday morning

Some clearing on Sunday

After a while, it appeared that the peaks to the west were seeing more consistent cloud. The best strategy seemed to be to return to the Rhondda – Gordon divide and do one of those two peaks. We packed up, put on our heavy packs and headed back. Once we were close to the divide. it was evident that the cloud was coming in from the west and north. We decided to contour around to the slopes of Gordon and if the weather held, drop the packs and do a quick ascent of Gordon. But, it didn't. It wasn't long before Gordon disappeared. A few minutes later, even St Nicholas was barely visible. By this time all remaining enthusiasm had disappeared, so we settled for heading back to the hut.


At the top op the Wapta icefield

While taking a break at the hut, we saw the weather open up to blue skies and close in to further white-outs. The ski out is always a challenge with heavy packs, but the weekend had brought fresh snow. Although heavy and hard to push, it did help keep the speed down. The sun was out though, and the views on the way down were spectacular.

Below Bow Hut

Basin below Bow Hut

The weather was disappointing, but the clear spells on the Wapta Icefield are always inspiring. Participants were our fearless coordinator, Dave, John, Bob, Sim and your scribe, Bill. Many thanks to Bob for our accommodation and to John for the indispensable GPS work.