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On reaching the first ridge, a traverse was made under a ledge into a smaller side gully of about 30 metres to climb up to the second and final pitch. Each climber made their way to the short gully one at a time whilst the remaining climbers took cover under the ledge and was subjected to a rock fall bombardment that lasted for over an hour and a half until the final climber had moved through. At the base of the second pitch, 70 metres short of the summit, and with time and conditions against them, the decision was made to retreat back down the mountain. The other party had taken this decision after only 3 pitches of difficult route finding on poor rock, avoiding verglas and rock fall. Descending, their misfortune was to be caught in the horrendous rock fall caused by the first group who had continued on. Never was there a better illustration of the importance of making the right call at the right time. The move back down to the car park took a further four hours. Overall, Pinnacle proved to be a challenging mountain that was a much of a test of good decision making as it was of skill, teamwork and nerve.
Mountain weather can never be relied on and during the three week expedition we had our fair share of glorious sunshine, torrential thunder showers and celtic clag. Spells of good weather were used to the full but poor weather did curtail activities on several occasions, reducing us to the indoor climbing wall in Banff and single-pitch cragging on several occasions. It did also give opportunities for well- deserved rest days; 12 pitch multi pitch climbs preceded by 2 hours of ascent and followed by 2 hours of walk off take a toll both physically and mentally. It had always been the intention to climb some big, alpine peaks, but the changeable weather earlier on precluded this. The long-range forecast indicated that weather windows of sufficient length were limited but the hope was to finish the trip on a high, summiting Mt Athabasca 3487mts during a favourable window in the final week, the first opportunity. The group headed north on the Ice fields Parkway, a stunning highway showcasing the most spectacular mountain panoramas. Our objective was the Athabasca Glacier. An afternoon was spent perfecting the skills required for efficient glacier travel, dodging the tourist snow-coaches (yes, they really do drive across the glacier itself!) and marvelling at the beautifully sculptured ice forms and glacial-fluvial features. Unfortu- nately, late in the afternoon the storm clouds grew and the weather became evermore threatening. During the night, a spectacular thun- derstorm raged loudly and very brightly through the valley and as we woke at 4am it became apparent that the weather was not stable enough to attempt an ascent on Athabasca. This was a disappoint- ing outcome but a decision that no one questioned in the less then favourable conditions.
It is fair to say that every member of the group has thoroughly enjoyed the Canadian expedition and has had the opportunity to develop their climbing technique, confidence and resilience. Alpine climbing, whether it is on mountain ridges, big face climbs or snow peaks, is a fickle beast that requires sound judgment and a healthy respect for the scale of the undertaking. The CFAVs are very grateful to the CCAT instructors who led their teams so expertly during the expedition and imparted their collective years of experience and we are all grateful to the funding bodies who made the expedition possible, including the Ulysses Trust, BIBMTF, the AMA and ACFA/CCFA. Most of all we are grateful to Kev Edwards for having the inspiration to make the project happen through his dedication and hard work. The CFAVs return home inspired to continue their climbing progression and further promote adventurous training within the Cadet organisation, which is what it is all about.
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