From August 27th through the 31st we traversed from Welsh Lakes through to the Catamount Glacier, over 4 nights enjoying the uncrowded Purcells.

Glaciers were mostly bare with a skiff of snow from the previous week which quickly melted and had the glaciers running with water throughout by the end of the trip. Glacier travel was very easy with few crevasses to negotiate. The only difficulties were encountered on the traverse from the North Star Glacier to the Gwendoline ridge where hot conditions and receding ice slopes resulted in much loose rock. We chose to climb 3 short 4th class pitches on a granitic buttress to the right of a 60 meter ice slope half way along the ridge separating the North Star from the Catamount glaciers.

We chose to camp at: the Upper Welsh Lake at a beautiful lake side spot, on glacier-flow left at 2620 meters on the side of the North Star Glacier for two nights, and at a camp below the Olive Hut on glacier-flow right at 2500 meters on granite ridges.

We chose to climb Alpha Centauri instead of North Star peak as the ice slopes on North Star were bare and quite broken. Alpha Centauri involved a couple of short 40 degree ice sections and two brief 4th class sections.

To exit the lower Catamount Glacier required a tight sneak-around on the right side of the rapidly retreating tongue of the glacier. Earlier in the season accessing the Catamount is much more straightforward with snow ledges covering what become smooth granite slabs later season. Feel free to contact me for a precise summertime track.

Overall, a beautiful and quiet 5 days where we had views of the much more frequented Applebee area just slightly north.