[MCR] Jasper National Park, The Andromeda Strain

[Public Mountain Conditions Report]

Made an attempt on the Andromeda Strain yesterday, March 10th. Quite  
cold in the wee hours, 4 am, - 18? A winter's day up there: cold dry  
snow, numb fingers. We did the approach in boot soles and it took  
about four hours to get up below the route. Snowshoes may have been  
an asset once you get to the glacial areas, but you'd have to carry  
them for at least half of the time.

Deep snow to trench up getting off of the glacier and onto the ice  
border above the bergschrund (no problem getting over the schrund as  
it is well filled in). That 30 meters of border ice was the last ice  
that we saw for the 3 pitches that we climbed. Its a bummer for me to  
think back to the three times that I ascended the lower half of the  
route in 1983 (attempts and, eventual, first ascent of the route) and  
remember the ice slopes and gullys that were there at that time. And  
there was ice there on my one return to the route in 2006. Several  
hot summers have melted all of that ice away now. Yesterday we had  
snow, some supportive, some unsupportive, over dirty loose rock and  
it was far from the quality climbing experience that it use to be.  
Looked like another 3-4 ropelengths of the same to get to the steeper  
climbing of the Direct, or classic traverse out right. We bailed.

I think that the route may be like what I hear the Eiger to be like  
now -best in a normal winter ie: normal amounts of snowfall unlike  
the draught that we're in, when accumulated and compressed snow can  
fill in where the ice use to be ... still can't get ice screws into  
that snow though.

Winds picked up to moderate as we walked away at 4 pm and the sky was  
going to overcast, lots of snow blowing around.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca



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