As he looked ahead to another long, cold Rockies winter last fall – not necessarily a bad thing for the owner of a Canadian Rockies ice climbing guide service – Kris Irwin began imagining a spring vacation in Penticton, B.C.
All thoughts of cycling and rock climbing in the sunny, warm Okanagan melted away, however, when he and fellow Bow Valley climbers Ian Welsted, Darren Vonk and Mark Taylor learned they’d been selected as winners of the 2014 John Lauchlan Award.
Last month, Irwin, Welsted and Vonk spent three weeks climbing in Alaska’s remote Revelation Mountains, unfortunately without Taylor, who broke his back in a climbing accident just a week before their departure date.
During the course of their highly successful trip, the trio climbed 65 technical pitches in three weeks, made a first ascent of one peak and climbed new routes on two others in a beautiful, little visited area of southwestern Alaska.
“We go through such a long, cold winter, choosing another month of cold and snow and ice seems nuts, but all doubts were erased as soon as we flew in,” Irwin said. “The remoteness gave me a true sense of solitude and a wilderness experience unlike anywhere I’ve been.”
Presented every year at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, the John Lauchlan Award is a cash award that assists climbing expeditions that embody the bold and adventurous spirit Lauchlan, a top Canadian climber who died in an avalanche in 1982, lived – and climbed – by.
After reading an article in the American Alpine Journal that sang the praises of the remote and relatively unexplored Revelations, a small, rugged sub-range located near the southwestern tip of the more prominent Alaska Range, Welsted suggested applying for the JLA with plans to make first ascents in the area.
While not terrifically high in stature – the highest, Mount Hesperus, at just 2,996 metres stands lower than many dozens of Canadian Rockies peaks – the Revelations are steep and dramatic, offering difficult technical climbing for experienced alpinists.
“The area is remote, so it’s expensive to get to and the weather is atrocious,” Irwin said. “It’s notorious for coastal storms – wet, heavy snow and big winds.”
To reach the area the climbers flew from Calgary to Anchorage, then by shuttle plane to Talkeetna, legendary launch point for Alaskan climbing adventures. After a flight of an hour and a bit on a Talkeetna Air Taxi single Otter, they were dropped off on Revelation Glacier. They were pleasantly surprised to discover a giant igloo built by a team of French climbers who’d flown out just before they arrived. The igloo had two rooms with six-and-a-half-foot ceilings.
“There wasn’t enough snow to dig a snow cave, so they’d built the igloo,” Irwin said. “They did a good job, but we renovated. We dug the floor down, we had a spice rack, liquor cabinet, cubby holes for food and storage, and a seat.”
While they appreciated the relative comforts of camp, they immediately set their sights on their climbing objectives, one of which was a first ascent of Dyke Peak via a thin ice line they’d spotted during their flight in.
They climbed their first route on their second day, a 1,200-metre mixed ice and rock climb on a peak called The Angel, which they christened the John Lauchlan Memorial Award Route (1,200 m, AI4+, M5). Other routes they climbed were 1,000 and 1,100 metres in length on granite that ranged from “blank slab to featured rock.”
“If you were to pick off a 1,000-metre route in the Rockies, that would be a big route,” Irwin said. “You don’t have to deal with altitude in the Revelations, the mountains are only up to 9,800 feet, but it’s still serious vertical relief.”
Overall, he said, the trip went well climbing as a team of three, rather than as two teams of two, as originally planned.
“It was a little slower for the actual climbing, but there were benefits too,” Irwin said. “Three is better than two for safety reasons, with more eyes on the mountain watching the weather and conditions. And it’s great to have another person to bounce ideas off and discuss strategy.”
But then, he added, three leaders meant longer time standing at belays, albeit with someone to talk to while the leader climbed higher.
“Three climbers meant there was definitely more entertainment at the belays,” Irwin said. “Then, when you’re leading and you’re up there way above them with Elvis leg, if you hear them laughing at least you know your belayer hasn’t fallen asleep.”
Irwin said they were surprised that overall the avalanche stability was better than the weather conditions would indicate, as they experienced coastal snow accompanied by strong winds.
“We were expecting to see and hear lots of fractures and crown lines and avalanche activity, but it settled pretty quickly,” Irwin said. “But with the hanging glaciers, serac fall was still a danger.”
While they did experience one -35 C snap that “kept things real,” the weather was relatively warm, and toward the end of their expedition rising daytime temperatures created a hazard.
After descending from their final climb they clicked into their skis and headed across the glacier. Thirty minutes later a huge cornice collapsed, launching a massive, fast-moving avalanche down the route they’d just spent a day and a half climbing.
“We had just clicked into our skis and were out of the danger zone,” Irwin said. “We were pretty lucky.”
