South Ridge, II, 5.5

Approach

Cross Fryatt Creek from the hut and proceed southeast up a dry creek bed which leads to the top of the Minnie Mouse ridge just below some rock pinnacles. Descend the ridge into the first basin and continue south gaining elevation at an angle, crossing some snow, to achieve the Minnie Mouse and Lowell col. This is not the suggested route in the Selected Alpine Climbs book (link attached) and does involve more climbing then the scree route they suggest.

Route Description

Proceed directly onto the south ridge and take on about two pitches of 5.5 climbing. There are some old pitons, but we used no rope or protection for the entire day. I recommend that you do. This climb was pleasant and landed us expediently onto the more laid back south ridge which leads straight up to the summit ridge which lies at a northeasterly angle. The summit ridge is loads of fun, offering multiple routes. There are some rappel stations, but we down climbed on descent. The ridge involves moving left and/or right and up and over. We did not find it overly complicated. The toughest section involves a chimney up the left side of a steeper section. It is not your only choice however. On descent, it was our intention to use the recommended ascent route via the scree. However, we shot pass our exit and ended up traversing loose ledges back over to the scree field. I recommend down climbing the complete ridge back to the col as this route saves considerable loss in elevation that has to be regained on the return to the hut.

Essential Gear

I suggest you take a rope. However this depends on your own comfort level and experience. If you take a rope, take a small rock rack. The main climbing is off of the col starting the ridge and then if you chose this as your decent, rappelling back through it could be nice (so some runners too) , thus a rope is recommended. There are old runners left on the route. Can't say I would trust any of them. We tried to clean up as much as we could. Of course take a helmet and other appropriate gear for a day on a ridge.

Images

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