Eyebrow Peak

Introduction

I didn’t sleep the best the first night – combination of an altitude, tent and anxiety contributed to that. We got up at 4:30 AM, quickly packed (well, everything was ready and sorted previous night), went to washroom, and then to breakfast.

It was still dark but I didn’t use my headlamp. I was able to see just enough to walk without problems.

There was a light in a dining tent, they used a little Honda electricity generator for necessary lights. I was thinking how early this was, but then, that was not too early, as kitchen staff woke up even earlier. Or what if we were starting with a real alpine start? – that would be interesting.

But still I didn't like it.

No matter how experienced you are, and no matter how eager you are to explore, there is always a resistance - your lizard brain kicks in to save you.

Eyebrow peak is located on the left hand side

There were 14 of us who chose to climb Eyebrow on the first day of our GMC. My rationale to do it at the very start was about not knowing what the weather would look like next week.

Stockdale Glacier

We quickly climbed over the moraine to the ridge and to the Stockdale glacier toe. Once there, it was time to put crampons, harness on and to rope up. As I was quite slow I ended up to be the last person on the rope, in the last rope team. Excellent! I will have all the time in the world to take pictures!

On the other hand, I was anticipating that there will be some tougher sections that I will have to do last, and that caused me a bit of concern. Another thing that I didn’t like much was that I won’t have too much time for rest, when we make an official break, as I will be arriving last.

I ended up on a rope with 2 complete strangers. Sue from Calgary was leading, and Pat from Seattle was in the middle. Sue was on the same helicopter flight with me, and she was an "assistant leader".

We started our glacier ascent at 6:36 AM

I was thinking that If she were able to setup anchors and do a rescue that was going to be enough. We don't have to get to know each other otherwise.

Hopefully she wouldn't need to demonstrate those skills.

Pat was quite more interesting, he was in the same shuttle from Radium to the helicopter staging area, and he was fun. Pat didn’t stop talking during the shuttle ride. It seemed that he knew everything and that he was everywhere.

Well, nevertheless, I was on the same rope with these 2 complete strangers. I didn’t know what they knew about ice travel, I didn’t know if they were able to help me to get out of crevasse, I didn’t know if they knew how to setup an anchor.

There were no checkups before we started walking on the glacier, ”Weird”. I thought, “Stephane and I always check each others gear before we touch a glacier."

On the other hand, it could also mean that the other two on my rope, and everyone else was quite confident in their abilities.

Who would know. I was thinking, "Let's go and let's explore. Mr.Lizard brain, you better shut up!"

The best colours are in the morning

We went through icy but flat section quickly, and this was quite uneventful. Only thing that happened was that we were going to a different peak than one that Stephane and I thought was Eyebrow yesterday (It turned out that this peak was Double Vision).

It was a slog, and almost flat with very little gained height. We passed a little col and took a break on the rocks – it seemed that from here we would lose some altitude, walk towards the end of the right hand side of the ridge, and then go around it. I wasn’t able to see Eyebrow peak as it was covered by clouds, but I knew it was there. I also knew that there will be a moment when we’ll be climbing something steep.

It always works that way.

Next section was a slog again, and it was quite boring. I kept myself entertained as I was taking pictures of our group including incredible scenery. We crossed one little crevasse (well, it was hard to say how big it was), where I almost fell down, when my ice axe went through the snow bridge. If I went through nobody wouldn’t know it, except Pat who would be pulled down too.

Slogging up the glacier

After this slog there was finally time for some excitement. The crux was in front of us. We stopped here for quite a while, as Mike, our guide, went forward to investigate the crux. Terrain was much steeper, and exposed, as beneath us, on our left side, were big crevasses. This was only on this part that I was able to see – the route went around the ridge, the rock, and that part was totally unknown to me. The broken glacier and its crevasses above it were adding excitement. This was not too bad as we were getting a nice rest.

Approaching the crux

The Crux

Mike was back, announced that we can, indeed, continue as planned. Everyone was disappearing behind the rock, and I suddenly felt lonely. I was the last person on this side of the rock. Sue was gone, Pat was gone, and then I finally crossed to “the other side”. This looked intimidating, exciting, big, overwhelming. We were going up, on a very steep, exposed section, and the route was zig zagging around huge crevasses over snow bridges. We were in a business mode. The rope was tight and we were moving quickly. I wanted to pass this area as fast as I could, as I am not sure if there could be recovery if anything happened. Crevasses were around us on all four sides, and those down the slope could eat a truck.

First part of the crux

It was a relief when we passed this section and joined others. It was time for a quick break, some food, and some rest.

I wasn't feeling tired at all, as we really didn't climb anything steep, except this last section which everyone quickly passed.

From this point we still had to cross a lot of the glacier, until we reach the rock, for the final summit push.

Weather was changing as there were more clouds, and it was becoming darker. It was darker in almost whiteout conditions. We knew at this moment that there is a big possibility that our views from the summit would be obscured by the clouds.

I was thinking how that would suck, but on the other hand there was nothing we could do to change it.

White (almost) out

We started ascending this part of the glacier, and teams in front of us all disappeared in a thick cloud/fog. Mike was leading, but I wasn't able to see him - he was too far away. I could only see Pat and Sue, and from time to time, the team in front of us.

There were huge lateral crevasses that we had to go around, so this added more ground cover, and more time to spend on the glacier. We crossed one questionable snow bridge, and I saw people jumping over it - I knew that I will have to pay attention to it.

A bit of challenge

I crossed it carefully, making a big step to the other side, and I must say that the crevasse underneath was Godzilla like. It felt good to gain steep terrain at this moment. 

We reached the rocky summit section in next 15 minutes, and that meant that we would drop all of our ice gear here, and get to the summit a bit lighter. I was quite warm and didn't need gloves, but I was thinking that I would need them on the summit.

Back to the rock

Only thing was, I couldn't find my gloves! How wonderful. I checked every possible place, but there were no gloves.I also couldn't find my spare gloves! I was lucky that it was not super cold. I thought how this was an excellent lesson learned: Know where you pack your gloves!

I reasoned that I will be quite warm once I reach the top, as this next section was quite long and steep, so I wouldn't need the gloves. I also thought that I was quite optimistic.

This was another slog on the rock. Good thing was that the rock was not too bad. It was easier to climb/scramble it than on Alberta mountains - I really didn't miss any scree here  :)

The Summit

It took us another 20-25 minutes to reach the summit, and we were finally on the top of Eyebrow mountain at 10:25 AM. It took us ~4 hrs to get to the top.

Mike congratulated to each one of us, and we sat down to eat our lunch. Olivia made an entry in the summit register, and everyone else sat down to have a meal.

I wished I had gloves, as my hands were cold now.

We reached the summit at 10:25 AM

On the summit - 11030 feet - 3362 meters

Good thing was that we didn't spend too much time on the top. We started our descent at 10:40 AM. In the meantime we took pictures of a typical whiteout. Stephane said how we could've taken our selfie at any Walmart parking lot  :)

We quickly reached our drop off site, geared up, and started walking back on the glacier. We were descending by following our ascent tracks. I was nervous about that "jumping" snow bridge, as conditions further deteriorated - it was quite white, and visibility was poor. It was warmer as well .Good thing was that we crossed it gracefully, and now we were heading to the ridge. Mike mentioned on the summit that we would choose a different route around the rocky corner. We wouldn't go around it, we would actually go over the ridge, and drop to the glacier on the other side.

Disappearing

Our ascent route was by now too dangerous, because of a high temparature who further thinned the snow bridges, and exposure.

We "only" needed to find a good place to get to the glacier from this rock (down climbable rock and easy access to the glacier - with a "gentle" bergschrund).

Our alternate descent route

Crampons were on again

We removed crampons and walked over the ridge. This gave us nice opportunity to see the mighty Stockdale glacier from different angles, so everyone was taking many glacier pictures from here.  

Different descent route

It didn't take long to find a "gate" to the glacier, and we geared up again, and started our descent.

Mike went first, cleaned up the route a bit, but still warned that the rock was quite "shitty". We descended short roped, and this part was challenging - it was not possible to see where you were going from the top, you could only hear people helping each other from below ("step here"....use your crampons"........)

Descending the rock ledge back to the glacier

Again I was a bit nervous about it - well, I was the last guy going down and nobody would belay me from the top. This meant if I mess up, I go down hard, pulling Pat and Sue. Ha! What an excitement.

I negotiated this part slowly, Pat directed me to nice holds - and everything finished in the best manner. We passed the bergschrund and we were on the glacier again.

Eyebrow was still in clouds

At this moment we started almost racing, as other teams were disappearing into whiteout. Next 40 minutes were a real race. We were walking as zombies were behind us, until Pat had it enough and demanded some rest. I did like this "move", as I was getting tired too. Prolonged walk with crampons is not the most pleasant thing in the world.

Off the glacier!

After we reached the icy part, it was just an easy walk off the glacier. We were on the rocks again, meaning that we were done, at 13:55.

Only thing that was left was to remove our gear, pack, and descent to the camp.

Our ascend route

This was an excellent start of GMC 2015!