The elevation difference from the trailhead to the summit is around 2000 meters (ouch!) so we broke it up by hiking part way up on Saturday and camping. Even this was a grunt of 1300m with the added burden of overnight packs. It's hard to know which is the best approach, either doing it all in one day or breaking it up, but it was nice to spend a night camping out high above Revelstoke. Thankfully the campsite was mostly free of snow and we didn't have a repeat of last weekend's shoveling marathon. It was also nice to actually feel chilly for a change! It's been blistering hot in the Okanagan lately. Temperatures have been as high as 40C in some places.
The route crosses the toe of a small glacier and then gains a ledge that can then be traversed to gain the north ridge. You can see the ledge just above Trent's noggin in this photo.
This photo gives a better idea of the scale - the ledge starts at that little finger of snow just above the highest figure.
There was a bit of messing about getting onto the ledge from the glacier.
The ledge itself is actually several meters wide for most of it's length except for one narrow part with an awkward step where we set up a rope to get everyone across quickly.
Once on the ridge it's an easy scramble with a few slightly more technical parts. This is Astrid taking it all very seriously.
And here we are on the top.
It's hard to avoid making these summit photos looking like bad album covers. We look like some oddball folk band about to launch into a rendition of our latest cheesy hit. Except for me, I just look like a goof.
I don't know, you kind of look like some 70's hard man standing there in your sweat shirt. It almost looks like you are flexing a little muscle as well...It looks like a fun weekend.
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