We had two full days to do two long climbs. Hiking from the hut to the climbs and back factored in at least a couple of hours so only one climb a day for us was feasable even though some do multiple climbs in a day. Our original plan was to do the northeast ridge of Bugaboo Spire (One of the top 50 climbs in North America), but with the ice on the route our guide said it would have been "full on mixed climbing". Instead he chose McTech Arete on the Crescent Spire which was 5.10, 6-pitch route. It was incredible granite crack climbing that was exactly the right mix of challenge and doability for our group. We were hiking up there at about 0630 and got back to the hut around 1600. Not the hardest climbing I've ever done, but the newness of that kind of continuous climbing and the big wall exposure was great and both Thomas and I agreed it was the best day of climbing we've ever had. Day 2 started out looking better weatherwise than day 1. We had planned to climg another 6-pitch climb Between the Ears, but after the first pitch a snowstorm came in and dumped a few inches really making things dangerous so we decided to hike back in. What an awesome place.
Sunrise in the Canadian Rockies
Hiking past a glacier lake on the approach to the climb
Thomas with Snowpatch Spire in the background
The Crescent Towers
The first pitch
Thomas on the 5th pitch belay area
The Summit of McTech Arete
This is a photo of the line we climbed. If you zoom in you will see two climbers on the route we climbed to give some perspective.
On Sunday we set out for the route "Between the Ears" which is what Thomas is checking out in this picture.
Right as we got started in to this climb a snowstorm came in soaking the rock and forcing us to rappell in retreat.
One of the incredible glacier lakes in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment