TR - Mount Harrison - 08.04.07
Tucked away in an obscure and seldom skied nook of the Kootenay Rockies, Mt. Harrison's lofty summit stands just over 3359m(11000 feet). Its the tallest mountain in the area and the Southernmost 11000 footer in the Canadian Rockies.
I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know this mountain existed until about six months ago when I happened across it in a climbing guidebook (The 11000ers of the Canadian Rockies). When I turned to the page with a snapshot of the north face my eyes nearly popped out of my head as it showed a big couloir that started very close to the summit!
Could this be real? A big north facing couloir from the top of an 11000 foot peak right in my backyard that I'd never even heard of? Yup.
And so began my obsession with skiing this mountain. The guidebook picture was gleefully shown to a selection potential partners early in the season. Tentative plans were made to go have a look sometime in April or May whenever weather and work schedules lined up favorably.
Things came together in early April for an attempt, so three of us set out from Kimberley at 5am on Sunday the 8th. Travel conditions were good and we found ourselves at the end of the road staring up at our objective by sometime around 9am:
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The skies were blue and excitement was starting to build. We dropped our overnight gear (anticipating a long day) and proceeded to skin-up and start bushwhacking. Before too long we were out in the open and our route for the day laid itself out in front of us:
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We decided to bypass some cliff bands via a tight little chute in order to stay in the shade. The snow in the chute was very nice and excitement continued to build:
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The chute topped out on a plateau and it was back to skinning for a while:
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We were able to skin up past the bergschrund (there is a small glacier at the base of the big couloir) and then it was time for bootstompin straight up:
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At some point we came to a spot where there was black ice not too far under the snow and dude#1 decided he didn't need to go any further. He skied to a safe place and dude#2 and I carried-on up eventually reaching the summit at around 5pm.
The views from the top on this beautiful day were outstanding. Mt. Assiniboine standing prominently to the North:
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_74895.jpg
Mount Fisher to the Southwest:
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It was quite a sensation skiing the upper chute as it rolls over as if you're skiing off the edge of the planet:
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Before too long we were on a sustained steep pitch:
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The snow conditions were superb for steep couloirs:
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We charged out onto the apron and over the mini glacier and then traversed over to meet up with dude#1. The three of us sat in a sunny spot and refueled and rejoiced for a bit before dropping in to the lower chute where we found the best snow of the day:
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Looking back up at the lower chute:
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We got back to the sleds sometime around 7pm and proceeded to slam a few beers and chow down before passing out exhausted:
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