On the weekend we climbed half of Tourist Turf, my new route on the north side of lower Fairview, between Rockfall Wall and Nautilus Wall, as well as the McKibben route on the Andromeda/Athabasca Buttress (above the snowcoach road).

Both routes feature naturally protected moderate mixed climbing with a relatively high climbing to approach ratio. Also featured are approach slopes that can be relatively easily assessed for avalanche hazard. We found both approach slopes to be stable. On Tourist Turf a previous team had plowed a trough through crusts and facets to the ground while at the Icefields we found a fully supportive thick crust under 20cms of light snow.

On both of these routes good knowledge of piton and natural gear placement is required, as is avalanche assessment, but they are both relatively safer options for this time of year.

Enjoy
Ian Welsted