In early September Canadian based climbers Joshua Lavigne and Jason Kruk climbed a new direct route up the North Face of Mt Alberta (3619m). The 1000m North face was first scaled in 1972 by George Lowe and Jock Glidden (VI 5.9 A2, 1000m) which takes a line up the middle of the steep face. In 2006 Chris Brazeau and Jon Walsh climbed a steeper line to the right making the first free and single push ascent of the face (VI 5.11 M6, 1000m). Two years later, in 2008, and the ever strong US duo of House and Anderson put their mark on the mountain encountering difficulties of WI5+ M8 R/X on the upper headwall, making the closest attempt at a true calendar winter ascent (whilst 10 days away from a calendar ascent they were the first to climb it in true winter conditions with temperatures of -29 degrees centigrade!)

 

 

In fact it seems that almost every ascent of this north face has a spectacular story associated with it and it’s well worth reading up on each of the First Ascents. It’s also a notoriously fickle mountain to get right- due to the often ‘shaley’ and loose nature of the rock in the upper headwall it’s essential to have a decent amount of ice holding it together. But without any visual reference points from any road and a tough two day walk in it’s a call that only the most experienced can make and get right. (The incredibly talented Tobin Sorenson was to fall to his death on the Lowe-Glidden in 1980 when all his protection failed in the poor rock).

 

So it was that from the 6-9^th September Kruk and Lavigne teamed up and headed into the Winston Churchill Range and the AAC’s Alberta Hut. Preferring to go light and fast they headed off the following morning with only a 30L pack for the second and a small hydration pack for the leader.

 

“The weather was going to be splitter but a large amount of fresh snow had already accumulated in the mountains and temps were looking fresh overnight. Conditions on the north faces seemed pretty wintery. The snow was hopefully forming good névé on the boilerplate ice face and the headwall, while steep, wasn’t as big as say, something really big like the North Twin. We’d hopefully have more than enough good weather to deal with the particularly slow nature of the difficult alpine drytooling we expected to encounter” commented Kruk, adding that their bivy kit consisted of a light thermarest and a single ovular tarp.

 

“We were climbing in my favourite style: with new route eyes. Meaning no topos, no beta, just climbing what looked best. Pure adventure climbing.{…} During an ascent of the north face in winter conditions, every climber must be drawn to the incredible WI5+ pillar that forms seemingly reliably halfway up the headwall. It’s one of the classiest stretches of ice I’ve seen on a big mountain route, and provides easy (or easier) passage around what would otherwise be very time-consuming steep drytooling… At least for a pitch. We were aiming for the water ice, and would drytool above and below it, that was the plan.”

 

 

 

So after getting a little lost on the approach raps they soloed over the shrund and onto the face proper where they made good progress on the lower 55 degree snow and ice slopes. At about ¾ height up the face they reached the headwall and started up the House-Anderson line to the base of the classic WI5+ pillar that forms one of the more impressive features of the face. Sustained pitches of M7 lead them to the ice with Lavigne taking 4 lead falls on the crux section of the House-Anderson; eventually ripping out the piton placed on the first ascent and resorting to the only short aid move they did on the climb.

 

 

 

 

 

As if the route had not been providing them with 5 star atmosphere and wild climbing, Kruk then followed out the top of the waterfall ice pitch and mantle shelved on top of an icy ledge. To his surprise he was peering into a cave- ‘A horizontal oasis in a vertical desert’- as he would later describe it. With still plenty of day light left Kruk continued on the climb and took a thin ledge system out of the cave to the right which they thought would lead them to easier ground. Finding bulging snow on the wall and feeling like he was being pushed off the ledge he looked back over to the left and “From this perspective I got a good look at the thin crack systems that led back out left, straight up and through the steepest part of the headwall remaining. Wild-looking climbing, but too tempting to resist. The rock quality up to this point had been reasonable. A real connoisseur might call it choss, but it was sufficiently held together by cold temps and snow and ice to protect adequately on the bits where you needed it most.”

 

Opting to retreat back to the cave and have a good nights sleep then fire straight up the steepest part of the wall early the next morning, they ventured further into this strange feature making it as far as a few hundred meters in with no end in sight. Surely one of the most unexpected surprises when climbing a north face; on the plus side it does make for a 5 star bivy spot!

 

 

The following morning saw Kruk lead straight up and out of the cave directly up the headwall. “The exposure was an intense wake up. Steep, thin drytooling with awkward feet. The rock was pretty shit. I left the gear at the lip of the roof and climbed further and further above it. I was conscientious of the shift in my focus from my initial terror as I entered the no-fall zone to a very deep mental clarity.” Swinging leads they progressed up terrain that they labeled M7+++, “overwhelmed with appreciation for the outrageous position and difficult climbing we were blessed with on this adventure”.

 

 

Finally arriving at solid ice and the double-edged cornice to the summit they started the still very arduous descent down the Japanese route, forcing another cold bivy on them as darkness fell.

 

 

 

An awesome achievement and outing for Lavigne and Kruk; you can watch a short video made by Lavigne below which is well worth watching even if its just for the Cave footage!

 

Mt Alberta, North Face from Joshua Lavigne on Vimeo.