Mt Aberdeen is one of the crown jewels out of the giant collection found in the Lake Louise group. Although not as obvious, and tucked away behind fairview and Hadoe, it offers the adventure skier quite a fabulous day in the mountains.
Quality Rating
2 1/2 out of 3 stars
FD Unknown
Height around 11,000 ft
Best Time Spring is the best time to hit this beauty, preferably a day or 2 after a wet snowfall and you might find that the 70 plus degree ice tongue is skiable.
Characteristics
This is a North facing rockies peak with skiing on a large glacier.
The Run
The run is blocked by a 300 ft 70 degree ice tongue that must be ice climbed on the way up and usually rappelled on the way down. After overcoming this first obstacle, it is possible to skin up and climb all the way to the base of the main steep face. The face holds the best skiing on the mountain, as it is the steepest and is usually in the shade so it tends to keep cold smoke the longest. The face itself is only 1000 ft and will deliver you to the haddoe/aberdeen col. From here it is possible to skin up to close to the summit, which requires 40 ft of exposed scrambling to stand on top. The run can be combined with a decent of either fairview or surprise pass, to really put a cherry on the sunday and provide almost 5000 ft of grade A quality shredding.
Time
This peak can easily be done in a day.
Objective Hazards
The first main crux is the ice bulge, ascending and descending this feature take some time and mountaineering know how... crampons and an ice axe are a must.
There are large seracs protecting the face, do not linger in exposed areas, and attempt to be on top of them by the time the sun hits this feature.
