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Mission Range, MT > McDonald Peak > Climber's Log|
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| FlatheadJim | Via Sheep's Head  Date Climbed: Jul 10, 1999 | |
| Climbed up & over the Sheep's Head, across the glacier to the summit and back. On trail from about 0600 to 0100 the next day. | |
| Posted Jul 19, 2009 2:52 pm | ||
| NOO2 | Timing is everything | |
| Lots of wet slab avalanches. Route choice and timing were critical. Saw fresh sow and cub Griz tracks down in the forest. | |
| Posted Dec 28, 2007 6:54 pm | ||
| saintgrizzly | Ashley Creek Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2006 | |
| Wow! This mountain has absolutely everything going for it—except trails! An unplanned two-day epic (13 & 16 hours respectively) with Bob Bolton and Duane Gilliland will, I sincerely hope, be the most memorable of its type I ever do. (If it's not, flowers can be sent to my funeral.) McDonald Peak isn't "just another mountain"—get off on a poor route, and even with a GPS it becomes a monster. If someone injures a leg (which happened), if you're forced to bivy on an island in the snow just below timberline (also happened), if you've got nothing in the way of food to sustain through a grueling second day but munchies (a bit hard on the energy level), it's also a monster, and not a forgiving one, either. Route-finding the second day was extremely difficult; Bob and Duane were amazing, talking each other through the possibilities. Those guys really know what it's all about! Grizzly poop was encountered. Ripped-apart logs were encountered. No grizzlies were encountered. Day two: 6 AM to arrival at vehicle at 10 PM, with one of the benefits of a northern-tier state being it was light all the way. This is one outing won't leave my mind. I don't want it to. | |
| Posted Jul 7, 2006 6:02 am | ||
| rfbolton | Ashley Creek Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2006 | |
| saintgrizzly, Duane, and I drove my trusty 4Runner to the end of the "road" and camped, then started early, intending to round-trip this one in one day. To make a long story short, this isn't wise. We experienced route difficulties and other time-killers, and then if that wasn't enough I managed to strain or slightly tear a quad muscle on my left leg while still pretty high on the mountain, forcing us to bivouac about here. In the morning I tested my mobility and learned that I could walk with the knee straight or nearly so, and that I could descend by reaching down with the injured leg, keeping it straight on the landing. This of course slowed us considerably, not to mention more route-finding problems and brush bashing above the shores of the upper Ashley Lake. Suffice it to say that it was a 16-hour epic to get back to the car. This is not an approach I would recommend, however I do know how I'd do it from that starting point if I were to repeat. Of course I won't do so because of my twin mottos - "So many mountains, so little time", and "Life is too short for repeats". No grizzlies were encountered. | |
| Posted Jul 6, 2006 3:41 pm | ||
| Fred Spicker | West Face & Ridge from McDonald Lake | |
| Climbed August 1963 My first larger mountain, climbed with Larry Corrigan, Bob Lambeth, Don Munn Jr. and Don Munn Sr. Our route was dictated more by transportation than by choice. I would not recommend this route, but it is doable. We took two and a half days. We bushwhacked from Post Creek up the north-south trending drainage passing through Sections 18 and 19 and originating at the small glacier on the west side of the peak. Then we ascended the glacier, west face, and west ridge to the summit We encountered a black bear and a sow grizzly with two cubs on the west face just below the summit. | |
| Posted Oct 15, 2005 12:48 pm | ||
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