Fri, Aug 12 2011 - Abbot Pass Hut - Meteor Shower & Lake O'Hara Photography (View Original Event Details)
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We had two picture perfect days scrambling up to Abbot Pass and hiking in the Lake O'Hara area. It's hard not to be blown away by the scenery in the Lake O'Hara area, and after a long lunch at Lake Oesa we pushed on for the second half of our first day's trip - the scramble up to the hut. The bottom of the slope was washed out, which made for tricky footing (think hard ground with some pebbles). We loved the snow patches for easier steps up, and after three hours of this arrived at the hut hungry. We had a potluck feast and were off to bed at 9, setting our alarms for midnight to watch the meteor shower. Well, midnight was cloudy, so the next try was 1am. Success for the ladies at that time, and Chris went out at 3am. At 5am we could see the headlamps of other parties that had stayed at the hut making their summit attempts on Mounts Lefroy and Victoria. Our descent from the hut was relatively quick and was followed by another long lunch at Lake Oesa (and a dip for one). We continued on to the Yukness Ledges, Opabin Prospect, and West Opabin before taking the last bus out. Thank you to a fantastic group for making this one of the most amazing overnight scrambles ever!
For anyone who might attempt Abbot Pass in the future, note that the difficulty of the route from Lake Oesa to Abbot Pass depends largely on conditions. We found the washed out trail at the beginning to be a challenge, but it was fine the following day after 20+ people had traveled on it. Helmets are a must for rockfall hazard is plentiful, and ice axes are a good idea for any time of year as you might need to cut a few steps. Big rewards after the slog up though.