If you have any updates or corrections to the book or want to pass on some interesting 11,000er feats, please e-mail them to me at (info@billcorbett.ca) and I’ll post them.

The following include important updates and corrections to the original (2004) edition of the book. For a complete update, please refer to the revised edition, published in early 2009.

Updates

• Additions to the 11,000er Club - In the fall of 2010, Andy Evans of Canmore (and Mount Everest and K2 renown) climbed Mount Recondite to become, as far as I know, the ninth person to climb all 54 of the standard 11,000ers. Three years earlier, my good buddy Colin Jones of Lac Des Arcs became number eight (West Ridge of Mount Fryatt was his last) and two years before that Jason Thompson of Calgary became number seven, finishing with Mount Alexandra.
• The Lawrence Grassi Hut (page 99), on the edge of the Clemenceau Icefield, has been closed and removed because of ongoing mould problems. It was in a bad location anyway for climbing the nearby 11,000er peaks – Clemenceau and Tusk – and visitors will no longer have to listen to pack rats trying to chew through the floorboards. The real shame is in losing the biffy, with its grand views down to the wooded lakes far below.
• The Sullivan River Road is no longer a viable access route to the Clemenceau Icefield (pages 96-99). The upper section of the logging road was decommissioned and a critical bridge removed in the summer of 2005. The options now are to fly in or to walk in the old way, from the Icefields Parkway – a four- or five-day (for most folks) but spectacular approach. For a 2005 trip report, and photos, of one such loop trip on foot, see the “Trips” link on this website.
• Is there a 55th 11,000er? Perhaps. In the spring of 2005, I skied and then walked up the south ridge of Mount Cromwell, at the north end of the Columbia Icefield, near the Twins. At the tip top of the mountain, my GPS registered 11,006 feet. See the Mount Cromwell entry under the “Trips” link for more details.
• Is there a 56th? This one is much more likely a yes. In early May of 2007, a friend and I did a ski ascent of Mount Warren, just north of Mount Brazeau on the Brazeau Icefield near Jasper (see trip report under Adventures; it’s a superb ski trip). On the summit, my GPS read 11,030 feet, which would seem to put it safely beyond any margin for error. Though I haven’t measured its summit, Brazeau is also likely above its listed height of 3470 metres/11,384 feet, as newer maps give it a 3500-metre contour. My guess is the surveys of these peaks, done later than most of the divide ranges, were not that accurate.
• Mount Alberta – West Face
  Raphael Slawinski added to his impressive Mount Alberta resume with the first ascent of its crumbling, 850-metre West Face (V 5.10+) in mid-September 2007. He and partner Eamonn Walsh climbed the steep, delicate face in a long day, completing a remote route that barely thwarted four frost-bitten Americans in 1963.
• Speaking of Alberta, Jon Walsh and Chris Brazeau put up a new route (V5, 5.11, M6) on the North Face (to the right of the original route) in September, 2006. It was an incredible 30-hour push, hut to hut, and a free ascent, to boot, up the 1000-metre face, with six hard rock pitches. 

Corrections and Clarifications (Note: The following changes are for the first edition of the book. All changes, except the Mount Huber reference below, have been incorporated in the second edition, published in 2009 and with the cover photo shown on the Home and Books pages.)

• Page 14 – John Lauchlan and Jim Elzinga made the first winter ascent of the Ramp Route on Mount Kitchener in 1977, not of Grand Central Couloir, as was stated. The first winter ascent of the latter was by Tobin Sorenson and J. Roberts in 1978.
• Page 98, Icefields Parkway Approach to Clemenceau Icefield, second paragraph – The Athabasca River is crossed on a bridge at 15 kilometres, not forded. Note: In the next paragraph, the Toronto Glacier has greatly receded (as have many of the lower glaciers in the Canadian Rockies), with a large lake (unmarked on the map) below its toe.
• Page 144 – On the upper photo, of the North Ridge route on Mount Cline, a more direct way to access the ridge is to go straight up the big snow slope, rather than go way around to the right as shown by the red line.
• Page 157 – The Fuhrmann Ledges route on Mount Lefroy is incorrect. The correct, lower line is shown in this photo by Joe Mckay, who improved the route.

• Page 166 - In the book, I say there was no first-hand account of the first ascent of Mount Huber. Tamara Barron wrote to inform me that her great grandfather, Eduard Tewes, did indeed write such an account, which was published in the 1905 journal of the German/Austrian Alpine Club.
• To clarify the approach description for the Goodsirs (pages 185-87), replace the first two paragraphs under Approach with the following:
  
  From the parking area, walk north on a good trail that swings east into mature forest above Ice River. The trail is briefly interrupted by a logging road and then picked up again in a clear cut, just before a side road enters from the right. When the Ice River trail is intersected at the bottom of the jumbled clear cut, turn right and follow the trail along the right side of the Ice River for about 7 km to a warden’s cabin (2-3 hours).
  
  From the warden’s cabin, head down to the edge of the Ice River and follow an intermittent trail north along its right side. Preferably with running shoes and shorts, slosh around the left side of two ensuing ponds and, where the river forces you onto its right bank, go open an open slide path for about 20 metres to intersect a faint trail. Follow this trail left through forest to another, alder-strewn slide path and go up its left edge for about 150 metres and then into the trees to reach a broad trail, which is followed left around the shoulder of Zinc Mountain.

Feats – I’m not advocating speed over the pleasure of spending a few days in sublime surroundings, but these are still impressive accomplishments:

• In the spring of 2005, Mike Adolph, Dave Edgar, and Chris Delworth climbed all four 12,000-foot peaks in the Canadian Rockies – Robson, Columbia, North Twin and Clemenceau – in a span of 10 days. They did fly into the Clemenceau Icefield but then skied over to the Columbia Icefield to do Columbia.
• Most people need three full days to climb Recondite, an approximately 75-kilometre round-trip trudge, with a total elevation gain of 10,000 feet. Yet an obviously super fit Mike Haponiuk of Edmonton soloed it, car to car, in 19 hours, carrying a 22-metre rope for the short rap and six energy bars for food.
• Similarly, Mount Alberta is considered a three- or four-day expedition by most parties. Yet Raphael Slawinski, Dana Ruddy and Tim Haggerty climbed the standard Japanese Route in 18 hours, car to car, in 2004, shaving 15 hours off the previous record. Incidentally, the previous record of 33 hours by Richard Jagger and Shep Steiner was accomplished in 1994, not 2004 as it says on page 58. In February of 2005, the juggernaut team of Slawinski, Scott Semple and Eamonn Walsh made the first winter ascent of Alberta, again by the Japanese Route. This time, though, it took three days.
• Mike Haponiuk – I have been remiss in not updating Mike’s incredible 11,000er solo dashes. He’s a fast cross-country ski racer, which perhaps accounts for his speedy times, plus he climbs with minimal gear and food. In the summer of 2006, he ascended Woolley and Diadem in seven hours, car to car, and then traversed the three Goodsirs, south to north, in less than 19 hours, again car to car. For mere mortals, Woolley-Diadem is usually two days and the Goodsirs a good three days; indeed, few people have climbed them all in one trip.
• The North Ridge of Cline got a winter ascent in March 2008 by Mike Adolph, Jen Kobi and Dave Edgar. They carried their approach skies over the route and spent two nights out. Back in August 2006, J. Mills, Tim Elson and Torran Elson climbed Cline’s big East Face (IV 5.10) in 18 hours round trip (see 2006/7 Canadian Alpine Journal for details). In September 2007, Mills soloed the North Face of Bryce in 20 hours, car to car.