We had spectacular weather for this great extension to the so popular Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse and hike. It adds less than two kilometers each way but an additional 600 meters or so. The only other people that we saw past the hordes on the way to and at the teahouse were a couple of climbers returning from an ascent of the North Peak of Mt Victoria.
We managed the "crux" of the trip (the shore of Lake Louise) right off the bat and proceeded to the teahouse with only a short break. There we stopped for a while and picked out where the trail must scend the right side of the valley to get to the Victoria Glacier. The trail is fairly clear even though it is somewhat overgrown. It takes off from the Abbot Pass viewpoint trail immediately past the avalanche slope just past the teahouse.


Slightly overgrown trail

After about an hour we reached a plateau above the trees with great views in all directions and had another break.


Laszlo, Christine and Carl in front of The Mitre and Mt Lefroy

En route to Victoria Glacier Viewpoint

Abbot Pass, Death Trap, Mt Victoria (and some Ramblers)

Summit of Temple just visible above Aberdeen

We then climbed up to a lateral moraine and the views got even better.


Lowest lobe of the Victoria Glacier

From the top of the moraine the scribe dropped down a short way to "touch" the glacier itself.


In search of a tarn below Mt Whyte

We extended the trip somewhat in a search for a possible tarn under Mt Whyte. This involved crossing quite a bit of talus and was to no avail. From there it is possible to drop directly down an avalanche slope to the teahouse.


Route to Victoria Glacier Viewpoint from 6 Glacier teahouse

Thanks a lot to Christine and Laszlo for joining me for a great day (and making it an official Rambler trip), to Christine for driving, and to Ivan for telling me about this trip that makes it even more worthwhile to head up the Plain of Six Glaciers trail.
Coordinator and scribe: Carl.