On January 18, elite ski mountaineers Christina Lustenberger, Brette Harrington, and Guillaume Pierrel completed the first ski descent of Deltaform Mountain’s North Glacier in the Canadian Rockies (700m, 50º).
The first ski descent line of Deltaform Mountain’s North Glacier. Photo: Instagram
The trio left the Moraine Lake trailhead at 7 am on January 17. The truck thermometer read -18°C. Hauling their gear in toboggans, they covered 17km uphill to reach the base of 3,424m Deltaform Mountain, deep in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. In summer, this is one of the most-visited spots in Banff National Park, but it is silent and empty in winter. Here, they set up their tents.
Camp before the climb. Photo: Lustenberger/Harrington/Pierrel
The following morning, Lustenberger, Harrington, and Pierrel ascended a series of exposed ramps to a couloir, right of their intended descent line. Near the top of the couloir, they built an anchor and rappelled onto the hanging glacier to continue climbing the steep upper section.
Climbing up. Photo: Lustenberger/Harrington/Pierrel
Summit and descent
After reaching the top, the trio transitioned and skied to the edge of the hanging serac, making two rappels to access another hanging snowfield. Two more rappels delivered them onto the lower portion of the route, where they finally skied all the way down and back to camp.
One more cold night, followed by a long walk out on their third day, capped off the adventure.
Deltaform Mountain in late September, during the height of the larch season. Photo: Nancy McMcMillan/Wikimedia
Deltaform Mountain is a prominent, sharp-pointed peak in the Valley of the Ten Peaks above Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, on the Alberta-British Columbia border.
Ascending the North Glacier. Photo: Lustenberger/Harrington/Pierrel
American explorer Samuel E.S. Allen originally named the mountain Saknowain in 1894, but in 1897, Walter Wilcox renamed it Deltaform because its north face resembles the Greek letter delta. It’s the tallest peak in the Valley of the Ten Peaks and is one of the hardest 11,000-footers in the Rockies due to loose, shattered rock, long approaches, and technical climbing. Herschel Clifford Parker, August Eggers, and Swiss guides Christian Kaufmann and Hans Kaufmann made the first ascent of Deltaform in 1903.
According to Lustenberger, the North Glacier was originally climbed in June 1968, but due to significant changes to the glacier and increased objective hazard from serac fall, the route is no longer recommended or even mentioned in current guidebooks.
Deltaform Mountain’s North Glacier. Photo: Lustenberger/Harrington/Pierrel
