Thread: Chris Brazeau completes first descent of north face of Mt. Bryce (solo)

This is pretty bad ass. Especially solo. A big face, long approach, serious exposure, and a long ass way out.
Major props.

http://www.biglines.com/articles/mt-...-chris-brazeau

Wow is right. The remoteness of that peak and the commitment to get it in prime conditions is damn impressive. Especially considering the crux comes after the ski with having to get up and out of there and thru bear country to boot. Perfect execution. Beautiful. To the top where this belongs.

2 days back to his truck.

Chapeau Chris.

This is awesome, respect and congratulations to Chris.

Huge accomplishment. The North face of that thing when viewed from anywhere you can see it from has gnar written all over it.

"It was amazing. Dude, I was getting faceshots in there. Mostly from the wind whipping snow up at me, but the snow was perfect."

Priceless. Strong work.

Here's a link to an article that has some description of Mt. Bryce

http://kmcmag.com/features/KMC12_BigLines.pdf

As mentioned in the article, the "exposure" that Brazeau refers to is a 1,300 metre cliff that is below the entire descent!! What the Fuck!

My favorite quote from the Brazeau's description of the steepness of the descent: "I'd say about 55 at the top. So it's not that steep, but it's really consistent."

55 degrees? On a huge unskied face? Above 1300 metres of exposure? Several days from nowhere? SOLO?

This is truly mindblowing in so many ways.

KUDOS!!!!!!!BIG BALLS!!!!!!!!;also thanx for the solo mention,peeps always raggin bout solo runs,but I love goin solo tooooo!!!

solo is the way. no mention of rope work needed either. purist of the pure fer sure.

rog

Originally Posted by Clownshoe

Here's a link to an article that has some description of Mt. Bryce

http://kmcmag.com/features/KMC12_BigLines.pdf

As mentioned in the article, the "exposure" that Brazeau refers to is a 1,300 metre cliff that is below the entire descent!! What the Fuck!

My favorite quote from the Brazeau's description of the steepness of the descent: "I'd say about 55 at the top. So it's not that steep, but it's really consistent."

55 degrees? On a huge unskied face? Above 1300 metres of exposure? Several days from nowhere? SOLO?

This is truly mindblowing in so many ways.

This really puts it in perspective.

Mindblowing.

Strong stuff indeed!

An amazing adventure! Did Brazeau boot back up to the summit on the ski line, or find a shorter route back to the south side?

That's badass.

Originally Posted by StanWagon

An amazing adventure! Did Brazeau boot back up to the summit on the ski line, or find a shorter route back to the south side?

Did ya look at the pics of that thing? Shorter route? Hahaha. Just messing with you but the only shorter route on that face is a heli ride. This ascent/descent and the way it was executed is so impressive. A beast of an effort for a gem of a peak. So inspiring and so damn impressive. To the top.

If the approach was 4 days, does that mean he went in from Golden? Is there not a shorter way to access it from the Icefields Parkway?

waayyyyy fucking rad!!! 10 zilllion style points to boot. wow

Access: Back in the day people would access this from Alberta (e.g., the first ascenders of the N Face). But the Rice Brook logging road now makes it more efficient to access from Golden. On a feeble attempt to climb Bryce in summer some years ago we went in that road (which is about 120 km) out of Golden on dirt roads, and got stopped before the ideal end by a downed tree. Anyway, it is a very remote place and I continue to be amazed thinking about what Brazeau pulled off, and in such amazing style.

The length of the approach from Rice Bk. in May would depend on how far one can drive up the road before hitting snow (or other obstacles). So, yes, the Columbia Icefield approach would be an alternative.

yep - that is an awesome achievement

Wow - awesomeness...back to the top where this belongs!!!!

Haven't logged in since April, but saw this post browsing on my phone the other day and was blown away. Wow, massive props, mind blowing to think about.

Originally Posted by cloud cult

If the approach was 4 days, does that mean he went in from Golden? Is there not a shorter way to access it from the Icefields Parkway?

Icefields is still a multiple day trip.

Sick gnar