Mount Garibaldi/Brohm Ridge

The Warren Glacier was generally in good condition.  We had to skirt several crevasses and cross one on a good snow bridge.  Made a descending traverse to approximately 6800ft where we climbed the shoulder of ridge leading to the NE face.  Climbed NE face mostly climbers left to avoid crevasses on the right side.  At the bergschrund there was a significant moat, dropping probably 20 feet, with upper portion 6-10 feet above the break.  The standard route to climbers left up onto a snow ramp looked good from below but from the moat one could observe severe melting from the backside such that the snow bridge to the ramp was not safe and not protectable as the top section of the slope was cracked and likely would not have accepted a picket.  A group of skiers was probing the climber’s right side of the moat for a way up but that proved to be unsuccessful. Instead, the team focused on the center portion of the upper slope.  The moat was only about 1-1/2 feet across but the opposite snow wall was about 6 feet high.  We cut some steps into the snow wall and shoveled out the top of the wall to form a small platform.  A skier donated a pair of skis to use as a bridge across the moat.  Leader belayed the team across.  The rest of the way to the summit was straightforward.  On descent the team made a short rappel across the moat.  We avoided the steep descent down the ridge by descending more to skiers right but still had to negotiate several crevasses lower on the ridge line.  At the edge of the glacier we stopped at a rock island to make water for the team.  Time: camp to camp 15 hours.