• September 13, 2003
• Mountain height: 3,394 m (11,132 feet)
• Elevation gain: 1530 m (we made the "consolation summit", about 15 vertical metres lower than the true summit
• Ascent time: approx. 9 hours 
• Descent time: 4 hours

Mountaineering with Mark Nugara and Marc Goulet.

What a day! Up at 3:15 am, a 2 hour drive to the south end of the Icefields Parkway,13 plus hours of phenomenal 
mountaineering, with an unpleasant bout of "bonking" on descent, and an extended 3.5 hour return drive that got us 
back into Calgary at 12:30 am Sunday morning. The outstanding weather, unbeatable scenery, and incredible 
summit view combined to make this one of our most exceptional trips to-date. Starting the ascent at 7:10 am, we 
quickly made our way up and around a couple of very scenic waterfalls and up to the basin leading to Hector Glacier. 
The summit of Little Hector eventually came into view and was stunning in the morning light and covered in a fresh 
layer of snow. Our excitement tripled as Little Hector's big brother (and our destination) appeared to the left.

2 hours in we arrived at the foot of the glacier and stopped to put on our crampons and rope up. Even here, there 
was a terrific crevasse - a mere trifle of things to come. We were expecting an easy ascent with maybe one or two 
small crevasses to overcome on the way. We basically spent the next 5 hours carefully negotiating our way 
through fields of gaping crevasses, some almost 10 meters wide, 30-40 meters deep, and hundreds of meters 
long - it was absolutely incredible! Along the way we crossed at least 20 snowbridges. Most of them were quite 
solid, however, on several occasions the 2 Marks punched through, revealing seemingly bottomless, black holes and 
giving both of them quite a start. After our recent Athabasca Glacier trip, I thought that it would be a long, long time 
before I was saw such phenomenal scenery. The Hector Glacier was every bit as awe-inspiring and far more 
dangerous.

The last of three groups making their way towards the summit, we continued on slowly and very carefully. Marc 
Goulet was a great compliment to our small team, as he was very adventurous and had no problem trying the 
more difficult and dangerous looking terrain. Unfortunately, at this point, I was starting to feel a little ill - a 
combination of not eating enough and the hot sun - and realized that I was in the bonking danger zone. I felt 
better after eating, but knew that it would catch up with me later. We continued on getting some good 
crampons practice up steep icy slopes.

Approximately 8 hours after leaving the parking lot, we arrived at a small col in between the summit block 
and a false summit. Of the two parties already there one had tried and failed to reach the true summit and 
the other hadn't even made an attempt. Unfortunately, the new snow that made this one of the most scenic 
trips to-date, also rendered the final push to the summit a virtual death-trap. With a new layer of snow 
that was too thin and unconsolidated for kick-steeping and nowhere to place adequate protection, 
it was a very risky proposition at best. We made the attempt, but backed down when confronted with 
a short, but vertical rock band that would have been very dangerous to downclimb.

As the two other parties had done before us, we took the 5 minute trip to the "consolation" summit, 
where there was an unbelievable panorama. It would probably be easier for me to list the "giants" 
that I could not see! Besides great views of Assiniboine, Ball, Temple and the entire Lake Louise 
Group, Stephen, Chephren, Balfour and others on the Wapta Icefield, there was even an unexpected 
appearance by Mount Sir Douglas.

The first part of the descent was great. Again we had to be very careful about hidden crevasses 
and snowbridges and on one occasion, Mark actual broke through a bridge while crawling across 
it. I pulled him over very quickly, before he could fall in, but it was a good reminder of the inherent 
dangers of glacier travel. By the time we got to the bottom of the glacier, I had a very bad 
headache and was in full bonking mode. The last 2.5 of the descent were miserable for me.  
Overall, a fantastic trip and an unbelievable day for the three of us.