The Abbot Pass hut stood for decades in a rugged saddlebetween two iconic peaks, overlooking the limpid turquoise of Banff National Park91裸聊视频檚 Lake Louise 91裸聊视频� a destination for alpinists from around the world until the ground melted beneath it and forced its closure.
University of Calgary researchers have now used a century91裸聊视频檚 worth of entries from the hut91裸聊视频檚 log to illuminate how climate change is erasing historic climbs, making others more dangerous and altering the face of Canadian mountaineering.
91裸聊视频淭here were absolutely comments about how climate change has impacted the Canadian Rockies and many hut visitors expressed sadness and concern over it,91裸聊视频� wrote Kate Hanly, a geography doctoral candidate and co-author of a paper drawing on those logs published in the journal Climatic Change.
91裸聊视频淐limate change is contributing to changes in mountaineering conditions in the Canadian Rockies,91裸聊视频� she says in an email.
Mountain guides agree.
91裸聊视频淐lassic routes have changed,91裸聊视频� says Paul Vidalin, president of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides with 25 years of guiding experience.
91裸聊视频淚n places the ice is gone and there91裸聊视频檚 nothing but rotten rock left. What used to be nice mellow glacier (ski) runs are now really crevassed.91裸聊视频�
James Gudjonson, a vice-president of the Alpine Club of Canada, has been guiding climbers and skiers for 30 years.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 really disheartening,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淵ou know a lot (of routes) have gone away or are slowly going away and they91裸聊视频檙e not coming back.91裸聊视频�
Hanly91裸聊视频檚 paper combines 6,283 trip reports left by alpinists in the Abbot Pass hut log with those in a modern climbers database. It covers from 1923 to 2024.
Early entries describe reliable ramps of firm snow en route to renowned peaks such as Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria.
But by 2017, all Lefroy climbers reported exposed ice and half faced bare, unstable rock. Five per cent of climbers on Victoria reported bare rock in the 91裸聊视频�50s, while more than half did between 2013 and 2022.
That rock means more than just wobbly footing. As ice that holds it in place melts, it falls.
On one route to Abbot 91裸聊视频� used since early in the last century 91裸聊视频� there were no reports of dangerous rockfall for the first 50 years of the hut91裸聊视频檚 log. In the last decade, three-quarters of climbing parties mentioned it.
The findings were similar for another route to the hut.
91裸聊视频淭he typical right side was a war zone of rockfall with many near misses,91裸聊视频� said a 2009 entry.
The threats aren91裸聊视频檛 limited to Abbot Pass, says Christoph Dietzfelbinger, who has guided since the 91裸聊视频�80s in British Columbia91裸聊视频檚 Coast Range.
91裸聊视频淥n Mount Edziza, the access to the summit ridge used to be a simple snow slope,91裸聊视频� he says in an email. 91裸聊视频淣ow it is a 30- to 70-metre-high slope of black water ice that requires full alpine ice gear.91裸聊视频�
In the Bugaboos range south of Golden, B.C., a popular col in what may be Canada91裸聊视频檚 most famous climbing area is becoming increasingly inaccessible as it loses snow.
91裸聊视频淚 think it will eventually become a place where you just don91裸聊视频檛 go,91裸聊视频� says Gudjonson. 91裸聊视频淚t was the access point for dozens of routes.91裸聊视频�
Other hazards are also increasing.
Lower snowpacks and increased melting changes the shape and angle of glaciers, making them more prone to avalanches. Snow bridges allowing alpinists to safely cross crevasses are weakened.
Gudjonson has seen that effect on the Wapta Icefield, a popular high-altitude glacier ski touring destination between Banff and Jasper, Alta.
91裸聊视频淵ou just don91裸聊视频檛 have that snow because there91裸聊视频檚 so much rain and warm temperatures,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淵ou91裸聊视频檙e not getting that good bridging.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 OK in the summer 91裸聊视频� you can see the ice. But the real issue is the thinner snowpack in the winter.91裸聊视频�
As well, areas that usually see deep, stable snowpacks now experience big dumps followed by long droughts, sometimes punctuated by rain or thaw. That creates snow layers and makes avalanche assessment even harder.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 more erratic, more extreme,91裸聊视频� says Vidalin.
91裸聊视频淭here seems to be more problem layers (in the snow), more variability, more complexity.91裸聊视频�
Climate change is reducing some hazards. For example, Hanly says the thinner snowpack has shrunk cornices that used to hang over Victoria91裸聊视频檚 southeast ridge, making travel faster and easier.
New routes may open up as guides adapt.
91裸聊视频淭he only constant in guiding is change,91裸聊视频� Hanly writes in the email. 91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 think we are at risk of losing the culture of mountaineering in this country (at least right now) but I am pretty sure it will continue to evolve.91裸聊视频�
There are economic consequences, Hanly adds.
91裸聊视频淭he warm and dry weather in January reduced ice climbing opportunities so significantly that some guides didn91裸聊视频檛 have any work. In the Canadian Rockies and especially the Bow Valley, where so much guiding occurs, climate change could have a significant impact on the industry with potentially cascading effects on the tourism and hospitality industry.91裸聊视频�
Gudjonson points to the industry that91裸聊视频檚 grown up around backcountry skiing and mountaineering.
91裸聊视频淲hat91裸聊视频檚 going to happen to the commercial operators?91裸聊视频� he asks.
But that91裸聊视频檚 not his main concern. The 2018 closure of the Abbot Pass hut haunts climbers and hikers, he says.
91裸聊视频淲e have 100 years of history and something that91裸聊视频檚 woven into the culture of the mountain community. You lose those historical places forever.91裸聊视频�
Guides talk about it all the time, says Dietzfelbinger.
91裸聊视频淭here is something best called ecological grief,91裸聊视频� he wrote. 91裸聊视频淎 landscape that has been dear to me and that has nurtured many experiences is irrevocably changed.91裸聊视频�
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Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
