Hi all,

We just wrapped up a 6day trip with 3 guests to Mount Waddington in the coast mountains spanning July 27th to August 2nd. We successfully summited the main summit via the Bravo glacier route on the evening of July 30th.

Weather conditions were warm but excellent. We were under the influence of a strong high pressure system which blessed us with beautiful clear weather for the duration with no precipitation and light winds. We benefited from slight overnight freezes above 3000m.

We flew in/out with whitesaddleair from bluff lakes and ascended the route from a basecamp at Rainy Knob (2000m). We climbed the route over 3 days and camped in the Cauldron (2750m) and at the Spearman saddle (3225m). We needed 2 attempts to successfully climb the main summit (4018m). During our first attempt on July 29th, we got shut down at the Tooth-Waddington col by excessive natural ice falling from the much rimed features forming the upper south face. We retreated and changed our tactic before our second attempt. We needed to climb the final tower while it was in the shade which meant arriving at the summit around sunset and descending in the dark. This strategy worked and we reached the summit at 9:30 pm on July 30th. We were lucky to have excellent weather, and previous knowledge of the route, for our second attempt and planned overnight descent.

The overall conditions in the Waddington range were different than anticipated. Below 2800m glacier travel was challenging with open crevasses, minimal bridge options, and challenging bergshrund crossing. Much more reminiscent of mid summer conditions. Above 2800m there was much more remaining winter snow and conditions resembling to early summer with well covered snow bridge, passable bergshrunds, but also lingering avalanche problems and poor punchy walking snow surfaces. Perhaps this is due to a substantial snowstorm that swept the province in mid July. Perhaps this is also related to climate change affecting the lower mountain conditions more that the upper mountain. Either way, it makes planning an ascent of this nature more problematic. The final tower offered super interesting mix snow, ice, and rock climbing with good protection in the 5.8/M4/WI 3+ range. South facing alpine rock routes on Combatant, Tiedemann, and Asperity apear to be generally snow free from a distance.

We were pretty lucky to have such a good weather window and favorable conditions. It wasn't without significant efforts though. We used all our tools and every imaginable techniques to overcome the various challenges on the route. Above all, we hugely benefited from a thorough fly by of the lower Bravo glacier to be able to pick the best possible route through the exposed crevasse maze.

Grateful for and excellent adventure in the rugged coast mountains!

David Lussier and Daniel Robb
ACMG Mountain Guides
summitmountainguides.com