Sapphire Col

Three peaks in three days - a new record for the "B" group!

With a whole three days available to us this weekend, we decided to make the trip up to Sapphire Col. Using the SuperBus, we camped at the pass on Friday night, and on Saturday morning, Andrew, Brenda (your guest blogger today), Fred and Junco all set off in fine weather for the long and adventurous route to the humble yet beautiful (like your guest blogger) Sapphire Col Hut.
After an hour or two on the trail, we encounter the first obstacle of the day - crossing the raging river coming off the Asulkan glacier. One misstep would lead to soggy feet! Not to be daunted, we collected nearby branches and logs to create makeshift bridges. Obstacle 1 surpassed!



The next test of mettle was a miserable bushwhack through alder and scrubby cedar, which happily did not last long (though it couldn't have been too short). This was followed by a good hour of walking through a rocky meadow between two moraines, which led us to the fourth and most pleasant obstacle - a series of bedrock steps interspersed with small (and not so small) streams. This zen-like landscape took us to the toe of the Asulkan glacier, the fifth and final obstacle!



The final leg of our journey had ups and downs. The down was, as you can see in the photo, a sprinkling of rain. The upside was the sweet anticipation brought on by a helicopter making multiple passes above us long-lining... yes it's true... FRESH BARRELS! Arriving at the Sapphire Col Hut is always a great feeling, but never so great as when we know that clean facilities await.



That evening we made the easy trip up to Mt. Castor.



The following day saw us atop the broad slushy summit of Mt Swanzy via the SE Couloir - a longish grind up a steepish snow slope, which would make a helluva ski in springtime. Along the way we met with a graupel-and-snow storm - normal August weather.



Finally, on Monday, we went up The Dome, by far the most interesting and fun climb of the trip.



The trip out was long and unremarkable - the reverse of the trip in, except that it seemed an awful lot longer. Ice cream on the way home was the perfect end to one of the best trips to be had in Rogers Pass.

More photos here.