Clemenceau Icefield

In August 2009 I flew up to Edmonton to join Mike Haponiuk for a trip to the Clemenceau Icefields, a remote area on the western edge of the Canadian Rockies. Mike is on a quest to climb all the 11,000’ peaks in the Canadian Rockies, and three of them are clustered in this area – Mts. Clemenceau, Tusk and Tsar. Until a few years ago it was possible to drive up logging roads to within a day’s hike of Mt. Tsar, but those roads are now impassable, which leaves two choices – a four-day hike from the Icefields Parkway, or a short but expensive helicopter ride. Since Mike and I both have full-time jobs we compromised our principles and opted for the latter approach.