Distance

7.2 km to summit

15.7 km total

Elevation

2,895 m start

3,529 m max

Vertical

756 m gain

Time

3 hr 45 min to summit

5 hr 51 min total

Type I fun: 71km (45km on foot; 2 x 13km bike), 4,000m gain, 5 summits (4 of each are 11k+) = Lyells Traverse

CSMC trip, had a superb trip with great group and perfect weather.

Aug 2: long drive from Calgary on early morning; Bush FSR (search for "Log Dump Road, Golden, BC" on Google maps) was in surprisingly great condition, actually better than Spray Lakes road (hwy 742) lately. There were some changes in markings though: at 61.5km there is a junction and a "main" road goes to the left across the lake; keep right/straight, kilometre marks will reset and Valenciennes Rd turnoff at exactly 7km mark, there are 2 newer signs for that. Another 11km brought us to a junction with a washed out section (straight) and new logging cut on the right, marked as "Navy". After carefully finding few spots where to leave cars at (mind that the logging is active there and you don't want to find your car being hit by a logging truck afterwards) and putting chickenwire, the water crossing there was a crux of the bike ride as it was the widest and deepest one. The other crossings were much easier and few of them even rideable.
Our first night was at Icefall Lodge, a really neat place with well maintained trail to it. The only difficulty on the trail is the humidity. After dry Alberta it felt like in jungle rainforest.
13km bike +6.5km hike; 1,140m gain in total (or 240m +900m correspondingly).

Aug 3: after restful night, continued to Lyells hut. The lodge and both Lyells and Mons huts are under the same ownership, and they did a great job of building a system of summer trails. In no time got to Tivoli Ridge shoulder; two of us went to its summit. We should've brought our big packs to it though, as it was an easy way down on the other side that connected with the trail we needed; it would've saved us some elevation gain/loss and, what's more importantly, painful side-hilling. A route to ridge is a fun easy scramble.
We were told there is a Via Ferrata between the lodge and Lyells hut, but one still needs to rappel off for about 30m from lodge's side. We followed marked trail until a clear drop with a cornice, all as described. We realized that we were on the wrong side of the last shoulder after: a) rappelling and not finding the Via Ferrata; b) instead of 30m rapp, it was just under 60m and having 2 ropes of 50m and 60m, the last 4-5 meters were extra down climb fun. For our group of 7, it took between 2-3 hours to get to the glacier.
The rest was just a slog to the hut, as crevasses were filled and navigation wasn't an issue.
11.9km with 1,400m gain in 10hrs.

Aug 4: the main objective day and the purpose of the trip, Lyells traverse itself. Standard routes, good solid freeze in the morning really helped us to travel fast on the glacier. Believe we got to the first one - Rudoplh - in under 3 hours. The only alteration we did is en-route to Christian Peak: took a shortcut. Had to cross a bergschrund before exiting to a ridge but that one was filled and an easy one.
Christian Peak's "standard" routes (at least in most if not all reports) are going in circles around. But there is a direct line as well; there were fresh tracks which I chose to skip as I thought they're going via "east" circle but then realized in the end that they simply took the direct line. Views of Walter's (Lyell 4) south face on "west" circle are amazing though.
15.4km with 1,250m gain in 9:50hrs return.

Aug 5: an easy day out with first class views of Cerberus Falls.
11.7km on foot +13km bike; 2,000m loss in total.

Route name

Edward Peak 15.7 km route

loop
Obstacles

road/access issues, routefinding, stream crossing, bushwhacking, rockfall/loose rock, snow on route, avalanche danger, crevasse danger, weather

Key gear

ice axe, crampons, helmet, rope/harness, bike, trekking poles, mountaineering boots, GPS device

Other peaks climbed on this trip