Crampon Col
If you stay at the Icefall Lodge, you can venture to the nearby Mons Hut or Lyell Hut for the night, or as part of a multi-day, hut-to-hut linkup. In what turned out to be the most memorable part of our week in Canada, ten of us made the trip to the Lyell Hut, and caught some really fun skiing the next day.
The hut– which we were told is the highest in all of Canada– is perched on a rocky shoulder overlooking the vast Southwest Lyell Glacier and looks more like a small Arctic outpost than a spacious 10th Mountain Colorado cabin. Inside it has a standard kitchen setup and heater– there is no wood stove because there are no trees around and therefore no wood to burn. Despite it being advertised as sleeping twelve, we found it quite cozy for a group of ten. We were packed kind of tight on the single, upper-level bunk, but that was fine with us since we weren’t going there because of the five-star accommodations.
The next day greeted us with the clearest and calmest weather of the whole week, which we gladly seized upon by heading up to ski one of the five Mount Lyell summits, Christian Peak. It was a really fun morning tour, with a short yet quite steep summit climb and ski. After skiing Christian we began the long trek back to Icefall, via Crampon Col and then La Clytte shoulder, finishing with a run down the Groove Tube just as the hot sun turned the snow to mush. It was our last day of skiing for this trip, and an awesome way to end it all.
If you get up to Icefall and you have good weather, make the trip to Lyell. It’s worth it.
On the way up to Crampon Col.
Though you don’t actually need crampons for Crampon Col, it’s easier to boot it than to skin.
Christy and Allison make their way down the other side.
Below the Col, we had to traverse the glacier to the hut, which was located out in the distance, atop the big rock outcropping to the top right in the photo.
From the outside it’s pretty spartan.
And the inside is too, though it has everything you need.
The loft was comfy for reading, but became a real sardine-fest later as we all piled in to sleep. And Steve Miller had made chili for dinner, which only added to the team-building experience.
And quite possibly my favorite photo of the whole trip– this rather existential looking outhouse and red door. It’s actually a pit toilet and not a portal to some alternate dimension.
Sean sets the track up Christian Peak.
It was a short, fun descent from what was, by Canadian Rockies standards, a high summit.
I think we hit this one pretty well.
Taking it back down the glacier.
The Wiegele-like run down from Christian Peak eventually came to an end.
Good fun and a great group. Where to go next year?
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