I helped organize a mountaineering camp for the ACC at Lake O'Hara this summer. Great weather, great people, and overall a great trip. On our first day I climbed Mount Odaray with Ross and Brian.
Most of this route is a fine general mountaineering sort of climb. We crossed the glacier without much trouble and made our way to a rocky step that bars access to the ridge. We used the rope here for a short 5.4 section where there was some fixed gear left by the guides who operate out of O'Hara Lodge (thanks Larry).
Once onto the broad ridge we made our way up some tedious scree and scrambled over the occasional rocky outcrop.
Eventually we reached a false summit to gaze across a cleft to a dark and ominous steep wall that blocked the way to the top. It looked horrible. Thankfully we'd been warned about this part in advance and had been told that it looked worse that it was. Glad for this advice we eased our way down into the notch and peered upwards at the other side. It was a steep gully that seemed to be made up of 4 inch children's blocks piled one on top of another and all angled slightly downwards with terrific exposure on either side. Let's just say that it provided us with a slow and very mindful 20 meters of climbing.
A jog back to the ridge and then to the summit where we spent a good hour taking in the magnificent views. Look at these tourists.
A fine day in the mountains as they say.
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