Hi all,

Traveled up to the Sir Donald area May 16-17. The Illecillewaet campground parking lot was closed, which added ~30minutes to the walk-in. The trail was predominantly dry, with one creek crossing in the lower valley over a snow bridge and one unbridged crossing. Up higher there was some snow travel, though we wore trail runners all the way to bivy sites below Sir Donald's West face.

Our original plan was foiled due to a lack of overnight freeze. We hiked up to the Uto-Sir Donald col to scope out the NW ridge. Despite looking in shape from the W side of the col, the N side of the ridge still holds a decent amount of snow, which would likely make for slow travel. Our plan C was Uto's SW ridge, which was almost completely dry, with several snow patches that were easily bypassed on the rock ridge. A pleasant day out on solid quartzite! We downclimbed the ridge with one short rappel.

Attached a photo near the summit of Uto, NW ridge of Sir Donald in the background.

Regards,

Maarten van Haeren
ACMG Apprentice Rock Guide
CAA Level 1