Alberta’s Highest Peak - Mount Columbia (Alberta, Canada) | The Howard Team

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Wow - to the Top of Alberta 🇨🇦 in a Day - Mount Columbia 🎯

Last May 16, 2021 (Sunday), a group of 6 of us climbed to the Top of Alberta. Summiting Alberta's tallest peak, and the 2nd highest of the Canadian Rockies, requires good timing, good weather, and most importantly, a great leader.

Not that long ago I became aware of Alberta’s highest peak, Mount Columbia. At 3,747 meters it is Alberta’s Highest Peak, and is the 2nd highest of the Canadian Rockies. To summit, requires much Glacier Travel, good weather conditions and good timing. It is a summit that is on the “to do list” of most mountaineers, and many never get it ‘bagged’.

We car camped Saturday night at the Columbia Icefields Trailhead. I set my Alarm for 1:25am, and we were off at 2:07am walking to the toe of the glacier. Before sunrise, we were above ‘the crux’ of the day - the dangerous crevasse filled icefall, and away from the potential falling seracs.

About 14km later of glacier travel infrequently in cloud and hail and much up and down vertical gain, all we had left was the steep push to the summit (in the clouds). As we book packed these final 400m, Alex was hopeful the cloud would dissipate and we would have views.

Jason led the book packing with me following a good distance behind. As we climbed, it got steeper and steeper. The wind was strong, and the visibility decreased. While my Garmin watch indicated I was about 3700 meters and near the top, I could see nothing, and was a bit cold and scared. I added a few layers, and rested looking down below me for signs of the rest of our group.

Jason and I waited. I expected they may or may not arrive. Regardless, we would likely turn back … as there was zero visibility, it was windy and scary. Very soon, Alex, Shelly, Brandon and Billy appeared and without hesitation - continued past.

We enjoyed a half an hour of incredible summit experience, before some of us donning our ski’s and skiing off the summit. Wow! I’ve dreamed of skiing a line like this pretty much my entire life! (Regrettably, my ski bindings were ‘acting up’ and I could not ‘charge it’!)

6 hours later, 8pm - we arrived back at our cars. 🎯