South Brazeau Icefield (Mountaineering)
Easy, remote, and beautiful views, what a trip
South Brazeau Icefield (Mountaineering)
Notable Visited Landmarks
Introduction
Mount Brazeau is the tallest mountain in the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. It is a remote peak in Jasper National Park and offers superb scenery, with very little navigational issues (assuming good conditions on the Brazeau Icefield). If you want a technically easy remote ascent with fantastic views, then this trip may be for you.
Though the ascent was technically easy it was a bit of a challenge physically. The whole trip was about 60km and 2700m of elevation gain and took 3 days to complete. It doesn’t sound too bad, but after a very warm July we did not know what condition, the icefield was going to be in. I was going with Kayla, so I ended up carrying most of the supplies which ended up being more than 65lbs on the way in. Combined with mild dehydration and the essential lack of food you face on these outings I was ready for some nice meals when we got back (My family could not believe how much I ate for the next 3 days upon our return).
Approach to Swan Pass
On August 10, 2021, year 2 of the covid, Kayla and I drove up from Calgary early in the morning, determined to make it to our camp location on the first day (we had some issues with this earlier in the year, some of the problems being solvable with an earlier start time). I believe we left around 5am, and after taking a quick break at the Columbia Icefields visitor center we continued on to the Poboktan Creek trailhead. The start is a bit weird because you park and then you have to cross the creek on the highway to get to the trailhead which is by a bunch of Warden stations.
Crossing Poboktan Creek on the highway.
The trailhead.
The approach to the bivy site can be broken into 3 sections, the first section is on the Poboktan creek trail where you travel about 8km and gain 250m of elevation, arriving at the campground. The second part of the approach is following a creek and sometimes an unmaintained trail up a valley, bypassing a couple waterfalls on the way. This section is about 5km and 275m of elevation gain. The last part of the approach is the scree slog, travelling a couple kilometers and gaining 675m of elevation.
I imagine that the Poboktan Creek trail under normal conditions would be somewhat uninspiring. You get some views of the creek, but for the most part it was heavily forested. Kayla and I both really enjoyed this section of the trip though. It was just so nice to be in the mountains breathing fresh air instead of smoke and knowing that once we got out of the trees, we would actually be able to see things. We also picked a couple raspberries along the way, big win there. We took a break at the first campground on the Poboktan Creek trail 7.6km in from the trailhead.
Along the Poboktan Creek trail.
The Poboktan Creek campground is fancy!
From the campground we crossed the 2 bridges to continue on the Poboktan Creek trail and about 10m after the second bridge we came to a small trail branching off from the main trail on the left side. We took this trail and followed it on climber’s right of the creek we had just crossed. The trail would sometimes disappear where travel was easy but it would be pretty easy to find again once the trees crept back to the creek and travel became more difficult. Along the way we passed by a nice waterfall and we eventually came to a boulder field which gave us some nice views looking back into the valley we were headed up.
Branch in the trail, go left here.
Beautiful waterfall, on the way up the valley.
No trail but easy travel when the terrain opens up.
Kayla almost past the boulder field.
About 500m after the boulder field the valley opened up and was very flat, there was a nice bright tarn that we passed and streams of fresh water, travel was also very easy in dried out stream beds. This would be a lovely place to bivy, although it is not technically above treeline (so maybe a nice place to emergency bivy) and there was evidence of bear activity in the area. Further up the valley we had to cross a stream which we found a wet log for after some bushwhacking, it would have been much easier to avoid the bushwhacking and take off our shoes though, as we did on the descent. At the end of the valley there is a nice waterfall, with a trail leading around it on climber’s right. We followed this trail above the waterfall and to climber’s left leading into the scree that would take us to Swan Pass.
Beautiful valley, with waterfall at the back.
Tarn near the start of the valley.
Bear activity in the valley
Easy travel in dried out streams.
Not a great place to cross, but our feet didn’t get wet.
Waterfall at the end of the valley, the route goes up to the right but can’t be seen here.
Travel in the scree started out easy, following up a creek. We stuck climber’s right above a section where it looked like the creek would canyon off and from there, we needed to head higher climber’s right to get above some cliff bands. At this point more of the scree was loose and having done about 1000m of elevation gain and 15km with heavy packs we were getting pretty tired. But we pressed on, following cairns and what we could justify sometimes as trails up to Swan Pass. The views higher up looking onto the Coronet Glacier and back to the Icefields Parkway were fantastic, though we did not take a lot of time to enjoy them since we could tell there was some rain coming in and we wanted to set up the tent before that happened.
The start of the scree.
We went climber’s right above the canyon and around the trees.
We went climber’s right of the cliffs to gain the high ramp.
Looking back at Kayla on the ramp.
The Coronet glacier, and the water worn rock beneath.
Almost at Swan Pass, we can see to the other side of the Icefields Parkway now.
After about 6.5h from the parking lot we made it to Swan Pass and all we had to do was pick a bivy site. There were many great options, lots with wind breaks made from previous parties, and the pass is huge, there is tons of real estate if you want to make your own windbreak. The only downfall was that there was not much water, the water came from some rather small slabs of ice that would melt during the day making small streams. After realizing we weren’t going to find a fantastic water source, we decided on a site with a wind break and started setting up camp.
Kayla set up the tent and I pumped some water so we would be functioning at maximum efficiency. Then when I went to cook the pasta, it started raining, I got greedy and put in too much pasta for the amount of water in the pot and it turned into this horrible starchy mess. But it was food, and we ate it in the tent protected from the rain. The rain subsided after about an hour, so I went out to explore. I scoped out possible routes to get to the lower Brazeau Icefield and scrambled up a 2740m peak just South-East of camp. It was very windy, and then it started to drizzle again so I went back to the tent. Throughout the night the wind probably gusted at 60kph, but I was tired, so it was still a decent sleep.
Kayla setting up the tent at Swan Pass.
Our campsite with the Coronet glacier engulfed in clouds.
View from the 2740m Peak
Approach to Swan Pass
Mount Brazeau
The next morning, I woke up at around 6am to large wind gusts cold temperatures, and the threat of dark clouds above Henry Macleod (on the way to Brazeau). Nevertheless, we prepared to leave camp assuming that the weather would clear up.
Sunrise at Swan Pass.
Our camp with clouds over Henry Macleod.
From the camp we headed towards the lower Brazeau Icefield, about 50m from the camp we ran into a short snow patch to cross which brought us to some rocks leading to the icefield. The lower icefield was completely free of snow and there were no crevasses, so the rope was unnecessary, and we didn’t use it. There were some 1m deep stream beds with some water flowing through that we had to go into to get across, but the icefield was generally flat. We were treated to some great views while crossing the lower icefield.
Crossing a snow patch to get to the lower icefield.
Streams on the lower icefield.
Kayla crossing one of the streams.
Easy travel on the lower icefield.
Once across the lower icefield we had some class 2 scrambling, following cairns up to the main icefield to climber’s right of the icefall. The weather at this point was looking more promising and I was getting excited to go onto the main icefield, we could immediately see that there would be some crevasses to navigate around.
Bad route finding led to a wet steep section.
Almost onto the upper icefield.
The icefield started off dry, with beautiful blue crevasses for the first 15m or so. These subsided and we were walking on easy ice for a ways. Eventually the ice gave way to firn and we started to see more crevasses transverse to our path of travel. Some were narrow enough to step over, but some made it up to 3 or 4 meters across, we had to go around these. There was a particular section with a large concentration of crevasses both transverse and tangent to our direction of travel which was difficult to cross. After this section we arrived at a section of long crevasses tangential to our direction of travel just before the slope leading to Henry Macleod. Once the slope steepened (near the access to the slope leading to Henry Macleod) the crevasses disappeared for a while and we were walking on easy snow and small sections of superimposed ice.
Sizeable crevasses at the terminus of the main icefield.
The initial part of the main icefield is dry.
A water filled crevasse.
Kayla crossing a crevasse in the more concentrated crevasse field.
Kayla standing on some superimposed ice.
Looking back at Kayla with the crevasses that were longitudinal to our direction of travel.
We could now see the top of Brazeau, still a long way to go. After passing Valad the crevasse field picked up a bit, but it was more large crevasses with lower concentration, so travel was easy. There were some huge crevasses on the North-East side of Valad that were probably 6 or 7m across. We stayed high on the icefield trying not to lose elevation as we made our way to the Brazeau-Valad col, we ultimately made it off the icefield about 30 vertical meters above the col.
Mount Brazeau has come into view.
Kayla with Valad behind her.
A large crevasse between Valad and Brazeau.
Getting close to the Brazeau-Valad col now.
The slog up Brazeau was indeed a slog. Loose scree, blistered feet, and the wear from the previous day fought against our adrenaline of seeing the Brazeau Icefield open up before our eyes. About 400 vertical meters above the col, we finally made it to the summit ridge of Mount Brazeau. There was an arete of snow on this ridge which brought the summit a bit higher than the top of the rock.
Brazeau is definitely one of those mountains you should do for the views, it is remote and high and everywhere you look is beautiful. Just check out the pictures they’ll give you a better understanding.
A nice viewpoint on the way up the scree.
Getting higher on the slope.
View South-East from the summit of Brazeau.
The East side of the icefield.
Mount Warren and the view to the North.
Footage from the ascent of Brazeau
Valad and Henry Macleod
After descending back to our glacier gear, we re-roped up and made our way back onto the icefield. We hugged the bergshrund of Valad moving South on a steep slope until there was a break practically on the South end of the mountain. After getting around the bergshrund it was an easy ascent on the glacier/scree (you pick) to the top of Valad. The summit of Valad is quite wide and you have to move around to get different views.
A large crevasse on the wasy to Valad
Staying high on the icefield.
The slope steepens close to the bergshrund
The flat summit of Valad, there is rock behind me a bit higher but this is essentially the summit.
The traverse to Henry Macleod was entirely on class 2 scree, the only difficulties were tired legs and lots of wind. We did not spend much time on the top of Henry Macleod and Kayla just layed on the summit to try to avoid wind.
Kayla on the ridge to Henry Macleod with Valad and Brazeau behind her.
Close to the summit of Henry Macleod.
Summit view from Henry Macleod
We started down the glaciated slope running East from Henry Macleod on the southern side waiting for a good place to go down. Unfortunately, we got trapped by some large crevasses and we had to backtrack up and around to the North. Once we met up with the main icefield, we followed generally our ascent route.
Kayla with a large crevasse that we eventually had to go up and around.
Getting back to the more crevasses section of the icefield I misjudged the position of a crevasse and plunged a leg through some weak snow. We had more difficulty crossing the particularly crevassed area this time, meeting more dead ends where we had to backtrack in one case more than 100m. Getting closer to the terminus of the main icefield we were treated to an amazing view of the sun shining through some thin blue ice in a crevasse making it look like the ice was glowing.
Back in the crevassed section.
A beautiful blue crevasse back at the terminus of the main icefield.
We followed the cairns back to the lower icefield where we again crossed un-roped. There was significantly more supraglacial drainage than there was in the morning making for some awesome scenery.
Crossing the lower icefield.
Footage of Valad and Henry Macleod.
Final Day
Back at camp we decided our original campsite had too much wind, so we moved locations and got a better view of the icefield in the process. After dinner and a good sleep, I woke up early the next morning to watch the sunrise on the 2740m peak I had scrambled up on the first day. I noticed in the process that our water source had dried up since the ice which was the source of the stream was no longer melting. After I watched the sunrise, Kayla and I went down about 100m to a lake East of Swan Pass to get some water and I checked out some lakes further down in the process.
Sunrise view of the Brazeau Icefield from the 2740m peak.
Descending to check out the lakes.
At the largest lake.
After making and eating some lunch back at camp we packed up and headed out the 17.5km back to the car. This was easily my favorite trip of the summer, the whole area was absolutely beautiful, the campsite was amazing, and we got to see some really cool glacial features. I highly recommend this trip to everyone looking to do some camping and get onto a glacier.
Making lunch at our camp.
The nice tarn on descent.