Mt. Lefroy, Lemire Route, IV 5.8/9

Notes from an October 2003 ascent with Rich Akitt

A highly recommended alpine rock route. Given its relatively short approach, the route has an exquisitely remote feel. Once you get above the quartzite/limestone contact, the rock is generally good, and on the final tier it is simply excellent. The positions on the rib and on the upper snowfield are superb. However, we found the difficulty to be closer to 5.9 than the guidebook 5.7. Gear-wise, take a fair-sized alpine rock rack: a set of wires, a set of cams from TCUs to blue Camalot, and 6-7 pins. Rock shoes are very helpful. A pair of crampons and one ice tool apiece are sufficient for the upper snow/icefield. A couple of screws and an Abalakov hooker came in very handy on the West Face descent, which was melted out to bare ice. Finally, time-wise the guidebook estimate of 5-8 hours from base to summit is rather optimistic. We moved reasonably fast (scrambled the easy ground at the bottom, simulclimbed up to mid-5th class in the middle, and soloed the upper snow/ice), and still came in near the upper end of that estimate. Unless you solo most of the technical rock, expect to take 7-10 hours base to summit. Now for some detailed comments on the climbing.

The snow cone used to access the face, as shown on the photo on p. 94 of Selected Alpine Climbs, has greatly receded, making access to the face more difficult. We went some 200-300 metres further right, where we could easily step across the moat and scramble up low-angled rock. We scrambled up and then left, across the upper portion of the big snowfield in the photo, and onto the rib. At this point things got steep and loose enough (contact between the lower quartzite and upper limestone) that we changed into rock shoes and busted out the rope.

We climbed several pitches (up to 5.7 in difficulty, a fixed station or two) to the top of the first of 3 tiers. At the base of the second tier we made a rising traverse into the bowl on the left, then climbed straight up to regain the crest. This tier is quite straightforward and we simulclimbed it. After lunch at the base of the impressive final tier, we started straight up the crest, connecting a series of shallow corners. A full 60 metres got us to the right end of a big ledge. Rather than traverse left into a big chimney, we stepped off the right end of the ledge into a smaller chimney (excellent climbing). At the top of the chimney we move slightly left to avoid a roof (ignoring a piece of fixed gear up and right), then back right to avoid an even bigger roof. Challenging but well-protected climbing up a steep corner crack (5.8/9) lead to a small belay ledge on the right. At this point it might be simplest to continue straight up a somewhat unpleasant-looking chimney. Instead, we traversed right and connected snow ledges (lots of fun in rock shoes!) and easy breaks to the top of the rock, where we changed into boots and crampons.

It took us another 2 hours to solo up the snow/icefield to the summit ridge. Following an unexpectedly technical descent, the Abbott Pass hut made for a great bivi before hiking down to Lake Louise in the morning.