Mount Michener is the most inconvenient of the big peaks by the David Thompson Highway. Being on the other side of Abraham Lake makes it very inaccessible. The best way to access it is to walk across the lake in the winter. You could also canoe across it in the summer or hike around it. The lake is very long so hiking around it would add at least an extra 2 days to the trip. The lake has extremely strong winds most of the time which would make a canoe crossing very dangerous. Even if it is calm when you cross, it might not be when you return. When hiking across the lake be sure to check with the Nordegg Ranger Station first to make sure the ice is strong enough. The lake is a reservoir and when there is an increased demand on energy the lake might be lowered which may have an effect on the stability of the ice. I would strongly advise that you rope up for the lake crossing and have your ice axe out. You will need crampons for the crossing since the lake usually has many open patches of ice and the ice on the shore is very steep. There is some cell reception on the lake. The ice was very thick in mid February when we crossed it and I have also heard that it has been very thick in early March as well from another climber. In late April I have noticed the ice breaking up further down past Windy Point. So probably March is the latest that you should try and cross it.
The mountain has very little snow on it in the winter which makes it perfect for scrambling after walking across Abraham Lake. There are many ridges on the North side of the mountain but some of them are too steep to ascend. We ascended the one to the right of the ridge with the huge buttress. After ascending the ridge, go to the left of the summit horn. The summit horn doesn't look very inviting from the ridge but once you get to the other side of the mountain it is easy to ascend. Do not attempt to head to the right of the summit horn. It looks a lot easier than it is. The rock on the right of the summit horn is down sloping and would require some very tricky moves and possibly ropes. Once on the summit ridge it is an easy walk to the summit.
The photo to the left shows the route up Mount Michener as seen from Mount Abraham. This mountains former name is Pheobe's Teat since from Windy Point it looks like a woman lying on her back with her head hanging back.
This mountain has been on my list for awhile, but due to the potential danger involved in the lake crossing I wasn't willing to do a solo ascent. I am very glad that Raff offered to accompany me on this ascent. After taking some morning shots of Elliot Peak and Mount Abraham, Raff and I geared up for the lake crossing. After noticing the extreme lack of snow on Mount Michener we decided not to bring avalanche gear. I brought my snowshoes in case the forest snow was deep. Every time I have needed my snowshoes in the past I don't have them and every time I have brought them I haven't need them. This trip was no exception. Once across the lake I decided to leave them behind on the shore and pick them up on the way out.
We roped up for the lake crossing and put on our crampons and got our ice axes out. Without crampons the crossing would have been very slippery and treacherous. The lake had dropped in level during the winter leaving behind some steep ice on the shore. For the crossing we had on our parkas and scarfs to help protect us from the extreme winds blowing across the lake. The crossing of the lake was very scenic and we felt pretty safe. The ice seemed to be at least 1 meter deep. The open patches of ice were a bit interesting to walk across.
Once on the other side we hiked along the shore till we reached the desired ascent ridge. The forest was filled with dead fall that slowed down our bushwhacking a bit. Once we found the rocky part of the ridge the hiking was really easy. There was so little snow on the mountain that we were able to walk up bare rock for a long stretch of the ascent ridge. Once past the nice rock we had scree and snow slopes to ascend to reach the bottom of the summit horn. These were pretty tiring and we had to shed many layers. We unfortunately decided that the right side of the horn looked better to ascend. After breaking trail through knee deep snow for awhile we reached what we thought would be fun scrambling. Unfortunately, the rock turned out to be down sloping with no good holds. There was some ice that we contemplated using to ascend. We put on our crampons to ascend, but it was pretty sketchy. After awhile of discussion we turned back and headed up to the left of the summit horn. It was surprisingly simple on the left side. There was one section of moderate scrambling to reach the summit ridge and from there it was a steep hike to the top. We took a lot of excellent photos from the summit before we headed down.
Since we wasted time trying to ascend to the right of the summit horn we now had to descend in the dark part of the way. The descent was really easy for the most part until we reached the forest. We almost ended up descending the wrong ridge since the ridge we ascended connected with another ridge in a way that was not noticeable on our way up. After realizing this we backtracked to regain the correct ridge which was a good choice since continuing on would have taken us into some really steep terrain. Before we reached the forest we decided that it was head lamp time. Raff for the first time in his long and impressive climbing history had forgotten his headlamp. I led Raff through the trees as well as I could, trying to avoid as much dead fall as possible. We reached the lake and hiked back to where I had left my snowshoes. Raff had a very good eye and spotted my snowshoes where I didn't expect to see them.
Now came the major crux of the trip, the return crossing of Abraham Lake. The first crossing was beautiful and we felt very safe. So safe that we decided not to rope up for the return crossing. While putting our crampons on we heard some deep booming sounds that I thought was someones music system on the other side of the lake with the base turned way up. After walking onto the lake we quickly realized that it was the lake that was making this noise. This made me want to get off the lake immediately. The lake looked perfectly fine, exactly the same as when we crossed it. As I have found out later frozen lakes makes this noise all the time at night. But at the time, we didn't know that. On our return crossing there was no wind at all to our surprise. To help ease our minds we decided to rope up. The ice continued to make that booming noise for the whole crossing. Sometimes it would make a slightly louder boom all around me which really freaked me out. We avoided the open ice since it tended to make surface noise from refrozen melt water which added to our stress. We were both really happy to reach dry land on the other side. The ice was super thick and there was no risk of breaking through due to ones own weight. The worry in my mind was that a big block of ice under me would sink into the lake when I heard one of those big sounds. But I guess that is not how people fall through ice on lakes. So probably the best thing to bring for the lake crossing would have been earplugs so that you don't hear those sounds.
It was definitely an awesome ascent worthy of repeating
Click on the play button in the top left to start the slideshow or click on any picture to enlarge it. Use the icons on the top left to navigate.
