Abbot Hut

We're starting to look at more interesting and diverse terrain, while still enjoying some of the luxuries available to us.
We made the 8:30am bus into Lake O'Hara and immediately started hiking up towards Lake Oesa. This lake holds a special meaning to me as it was my favourite spot on my inaugural visit to the Rockies in 2003.

We weren't too certain of the best way up to Abbot Pass, and as the guidebook mentioned going straight up the gully on the north side of the lake, we traversed clockwise around Lake Oesa, cutting through a rockband with a decent trail, and then began trudging our way up a broken creek.

It was about this time that the first rains came, and we would be blessed with both more rain and some hail before the day was done.

Leaving Lake Oesa

The creek eventually flattened out into a huge bowl, from which the final gully up to the pass could be seen. From here, we also saw another trail coming in from the left, which we later learned was much easier (and we took on the way back down).

The final gully was very steep and loose, but some snow patches helped to make the going easier. We saw two rockfall events, one very large with a shower of boulders coming off of Mount Lefroy, and another off of Mount Victoria was just one big, man-sized slab of rock sliding down a snow slope. Our helmets were on and we steered clear of either side of the gully.

Our first view of the hut (on the left)

The hut appears quite suddenly, and it's a welcome sight from the drudgery of loose rocks.

The Death Trap

The view from Abbot Pass is spectacular on all four sides. It's a wonder that such a structure can exist on such a precarious perch. One must be careful when going to the outhouse in the night ... the drop is long.

The construction effort that went into building this hut will never be attempted again

There were 4 other parties at the hut, 3 of whom had mountaineering objectives and the fourth were like us, there for the night and then hiking back out the next day.

Mount Victoria on the left, Mount Lefroy on the right

The weather was unstable for the entire day, but things cleared up the following morning and we were able to see two parties coming back down off of Mount Lefroy after starting their climb at 4am.

If you look carefully, you can see a party of 2 coming down the snow gully and a party of 3 on the summit ridge

Coming back down from the pass was much easier than going up, and we considered making our way to MacArthur Lake, but got to Opabin Lake and realized we would probably not have enough time to catch the bus back down to the parking lot. That, and Sleeping Poets Pond, will be our goal the next time we're in the area.

Surfing

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/219059437/3101909
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/219059441/3101909