Scrambled up the South West face. We must have chosen a very different line since there would have been absolutely no protection in the loose shattered rock had we brought a rope. Luckily the climbing in the upper face was mostly 3rd-4th class with one short section of about 5-6 meters of 5.4. Lots of vertical on this route, about 2200m, I believe which is more than Sir Donald or the Grand Teton!
Old School WB - Feb 7, 2014 5:20 pm Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
SW Face (5.4 route) and traverse (descent via Hanbury Glacier)
Rafal Kazmierczak and I climbed the SW Face route with sunny and hot weather on July 14, 2007. Most of the SW Face route is a tiring scree slog, but the final 100 metres provides some excitement. The final summit wall can be scrambled on the right side (south), but route finding is difficult and probably in the low 5th class range (maybe 5.1 ish).
We chose a 5.4 line on the left end of the face. About 70 metres on relatively solid rock. I got great protection on the crux section with nuts, cams and even an ice screw in a deep corner that had bomber water ice. About 2/3 height on this section there was an ancient cam jammed in a crack that we could not retrieve, it looked very old. Once on the snowy summit we decided to do the full traverse and descend the Hanbury Glacier to Hoodoo Creek; mostly for fun, but also since the face was so loose, we were happy to be on snow. We couldn’t find a safe route off the headwall into Hoodoo Creek before dark, so we slept a bit and descended at first light, once in Hoodoo Creek, it was a simple return to the car.
MtnMagic - Apr 28, 2014 8:26 pm Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2009
Nice SummitScrambled up the South West face. We must have chosen a very different line since there would have been absolutely no protection in the loose shattered rock had we brought a rope. Luckily the climbing in the upper face was mostly 3rd-4th class with one short section of about 5-6 meters of 5.4. Lots of vertical on this route, about 2200m, I believe which is more than Sir Donald or the Grand Teton!
Old School WB - Feb 7, 2014 5:20 pm Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
SW Face (5.4 route) and traverse (descent via Hanbury Glacier)Rafal Kazmierczak and I climbed the SW Face route with sunny and hot weather on July 14, 2007. Most of the SW Face route is a tiring scree slog, but the final 100 metres provides some excitement. The final summit wall can be scrambled on the right side (south), but route finding is difficult and probably in the low 5th class range (maybe 5.1 ish).
We chose a 5.4 line on the left end of the face. About 70 metres on relatively solid rock. I got great protection on the crux section with nuts, cams and even an ice screw in a deep corner that had bomber water ice. About 2/3 height on this section there was an ancient cam jammed in a crack that we could not retrieve, it looked very old. Once on the snowy summit we decided to do the full traverse and descend the Hanbury Glacier to Hoodoo Creek; mostly for fun, but also since the face was so loose, we were happy to be on snow. We couldn’t find a safe route off the headwall into Hoodoo Creek before dark, so we slept a bit and descended at first light, once in Hoodoo Creek, it was a simple return to the car.