Beautifull fall weekend, we finally decided to hike to Abbot Hut, one of many alpine huts belonging to Alpine Club of Canada. This delightful stone cabin is certainly the most unique of the ACC huts, both for its location and design. Sitting astride the wind-swept crest of Abbot Pass at the impressive height of 9,598 feet, it is second only to the Neil Colgan hut as the highest permanent structure in Canada. Built in 1922 and earning a rich history ever since, this hut makes a perfect base for mountaineering attempts on Mts. Victoria and Lefroy or as an objective for strong hikers and scramblers.
Abbot Pass sits between Mount Victoria and Lefroy. There are three approaches to the pass, two of them very technical while third is the easiest and the most logical. It starts at picturesque Lake O’Hara, along high alpine Lake Oesa than follows very strenuous steep route up the wide gully. At the end one can rest in beautiful Abbot hut.
Along with our friends Ann and Tim (accidentally we went with them on their honeymoon trip to Peru, but that’s another story) we took of in the morning from Calgary, cought Lake O’Hara bus – 12 km from parking lot to the lake itself. Once there off we went. First we reached Lake Oesa where we stopped for a snack. From there all the way up to Abbot Pass. It was a tough hike, very very steep. We made it after few hours, very tired but very happy. As swoon as we regained our senses we prepared a meal and what a meal it was. I brought all the way up there whole pork roast (hehehehe). Tim is a vegetarian so he gave us a little lecture about how long this meat would stay in our guts but….who cared ??? We were hungry and happy to have the roast. It disappeared at our first attempt. Ann brought wine so it turned out to be garment meal. Couple of ours later we were on the move again. This timer we wanted to see how far we would make on Mount Lefroy without any crampons, protection etc. Well we didn’t make it too far but far (high) enough to get pretty view on the hut below and the whole area around. That night other people came with guitars, lots of alcohol and good food. It was very remarkable evening. Next day after hearty breakfast we were on our way back. Let me tell you coming down was not easy. When one is negotiating very steep terrain coming up is always easier and less scary then going down. Before we reached Lake Oesa we decided to take advantage of our altitude and do Yukness Ledge Alpine Route ( I do not exactly remember what was it called) it was a spectacular hike high up along the surrounding mountains. We finally made it back down in the late afternoon. I hope to do it again some day.
I took lots of pictures, if you have time check’em out, they are testimony to eternal beauty of Canadian Rockies. – see pictures by clicking here
