I spent the last couple days in the mountains by myself, doing a bunch of hiking, and a little bit of climbing. When I reached Wooley Shoulder I realized that conditions on my planned objective didn’t look good - Sections that I expected to be 60-degree snow and ice were instead 60-degree melted-out rubble. Despite a big snowpack this past winter/spring, the general situation in the Canadian Rockies is, sadly, the same as in the Alps: ice that was always thought of as ‘permanent’ is melting away rapidly. Having already done a bunch of hiking, however, I wanted to try to climb something, and thought I’d try to solo the Northeast Ridge of Mt. Alberta. I didn’t really have the right gear (overly heavy boots/axes/crampons, and only an ultra-static rope, unfit for self-belaying), but I had climbed the route once a bunch of years ago, and vaguely remembered it feeling pretty easy. There is an enormous difference, however, between climbing alone and climbing with a partner, and when I arrived alone at the base of the upper headwall I decided it looked too scary to head up free-soloing. If the route had been climbed a hundred times before that would have perhaps made for a different decision, but the number of untrustworthy holds in these mountains means that one has to free-solo much farther below one’s normal abilities than one would on better rock. Ah well. At least I was able to mostly descend from there by down-climbing, and didn’t lose much gear. I’m also getting fit at hiking! 😁 Respect to Mark Wilford for onsight soloing the upper Northeast Ridge many years ago (1990-ish?)! @patagonia_climb @petzl_official @scarpaspa @totemmt