Macdonald NW Integral

Approach: Herdman has full snow coverage down to 50m above the creek crossing, which makes for very fast travel to the base of the route, crampons made travel easier in the morning. There is a tree crossing just below the Howitzer station on the South side of the highway west of the snowshed, after crossing this we’d recommend staying level and walking the few hundred meters East to be in line with the Herdman before gaining elevation. Alternatively, there is a rope crossing in line with the Herdman just below the west side of the snowshed, which would require a harness (we didn’t use this).

Climbing Route: The route itself is snow-free and dry for the entirety of the climbing, which is on solid quartzite throughout. Stunning!

Promenade Ledge: we continued to the summit, but from what we could see, the ledge had some larger snow patches and looked like it would require some care to cross. However, all snow we encountered was either very soft or isothermic. Easily managed with some minor post-holing annoyances.

Summit Ridge Descent: was surprisingly snow-free where it counts. We utilized multiple rappels, as well as some glissading (again, very isothermal), and down-climbing.

Descent back to the road: 1100m of blissful boot skiing. We chose to descend the Banana Couloir, which had supportive, soft snow. The rest of the Herdman descent is quite the same; easy boot skiing/glissading until you reach the bottom end of the avalanche debris and have to walk a bit.
There are some cornices remaining above the Herdman Couloir.

Florina Beglinger - SG, AAG
Tyler Jay - ASG, ARG