Mount Woolley is one of the most scenic mountains in the rockies. It has the best view of Mount Alberta the scariest mountain in the rockies. The route up Woolley and Diadem is not technically difficult but is very steep and a slip would be very difficult to self arrest. The ascent routes are well described in Bill Corbets book "The 11000nders of the Canadian Rockies. The most dangerous part of the journey is potentially the river crossing at the start if the river is in high flow.
At 2 am we woke up and saw stars with some cloud. We were a little concerned that they would turn into rain. In fact one cloud did sprinkle on us briefly before we left camp. The weather didn't give us enough reason not to go for it, so up we went. I initially led on the glacier but soon ended up in a deadend of big crevasses. Doh. Ken being on the other end of the rope led us around to flatter terrain without the crevasses. We hiked past the serac runout zone and up the wide snow gully. We took the standard route up since the gully route on Diadem had huge cornices overhanging it. There was a lot more snow on the route than when I had previously gone up and as a result I found it much easier with more step kicking and less scrambling. The exposure was definitely significant at this point. We were on a steep snow slope with a drop off below us that led to the glacier. To minimize the risk we short roped this section. We crossed another steeper gully before reaching the upper glacier. I took the lead to give Ken a break for the remaining ascent of Woolley. The sun was now shining on Woolley. We headed across the glacier following the other teams tracks and avoiding the footprints with holes in them. The weather was awesome and the views in all directions were excellent. Mount Alberta looked very impressive and scary. I snapped some shots of the Hooker Icefield area which I had forgot to photograph earlier in the year when I ascended North Twin. I got an excellent shot of Rob and Ken traversing the airy section of the summit ridge. On the summit my score was settled with the awesome panorama we got to enjoy. Since the sun was out in full force we put on sunscreen to try and protect or faces before heading back to the col. At the col I had a mocha gel to try and re-energize myself, which seemed to work. We scrambled up Diadem Peak without much difficulty, being extra careful on the exposed summit block.
Once back on the upper glacier the snow had weakened and we were now sinking in up to our boot tops. Rob found a crevasse with his foot. At this point I should have had another mocha gel since I was very tired the rest of the way down. On the steep snow slope I stepped into a hole under the snow which caused me to start sliding head first down the slope to certain doom. Fortunately, we were short roped and Rob had his ice axe well placed at the time. Thanks Rob, your a life saver. Once back on the lower glacier Rob and Ken dragged me quickly past the serac runout and off the glacier. This was necessary since we had already witnessed 2 seracs calf off during our descent.
Once back at camp I took some ibuprofen to relax my leg muscles and some more mocha gel as well as a lot of chocolate granola bars which seemed to revitalize me for the hike out. It was a hotter day than the previous which made us worry about the final crossing of the Sunwapta, but it turned out to be not that bad. We were able to find a good route that was only knee deep for a brief section. I am very thankful to have such dependable and experienced partners to catch me when I fell. Hopefully, I wont need anyone to stop me from sliding again.
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