Sunday, July 21, 2013

Truda Peak Southeast Spur

Up to Hermit Meadows on Saturday afternoon. It was a scorching day and we were soaked to the skin by the time we arrived. Dave and Gerald shared a tent while I had brought just my sleeping bag and a tarp. Usually the nights are cool enough at this elevation for the mosquitoes to die down overnight. Not this time. I swatted and thrashed and sweated until it was time to get up at 5:00am.



We hiked across the glacier to have a look at the South Ridge of Truda as seen on the right skyline in the above photo. The upper ridge looked very nice but the bottom part looked a little scruffy. Instead of messing around we decided to have a quick look around the corner at the southeast spur as the guide book calls it the "cleanest and least problematic route" on the mountain. Kicking steps up the perfect snow we had to agree.



After the snow the route becomes a typical Selkirks 4th ridge with big blocks covered in flaky black lichen.



We topped out on the pointy summit at 11:00am.



As we nibbled at our lunches Dave dug out the summit register.



Reading through the sparse list of entries I was pleased to come across this page from 1989.



Ron Mason is the father of Simon, a very good friend of mine from Montreal, and I've know David Toole aka The Undertaker for many years. I was chuffed! Small world.

We descended via the Truda couloir.



And made our way back to the tents to wrap up a very fine day in the mountains.

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Bostock Pass to McGill Pass

This was basically a reconnaissance trip to explore the head of the Bostock Valley with the possibility of climbing the west ridge of Mount McGill.



David Jones guide book describes several approaches to Mount McGill. None are particularly appealing. We chose to hike straight to Bostock Pass and then bushwhack east along the ridge crest towards McGill Pass.



Yeah it kinda sucked. After a few hours we had a first look at a still very distant Mount McGill.



We realized that our hearts weren't really into climbing some obscure peak today so instead we had a nap high up on the ridge in the warm afternoon sun. The Western Anemone were in full bloom.



The nap was a good choice because the next part of the day sorely tried our patience. First we continued on to McGill Pass.



Next, since one of the possible approaches to Mount McGill is to head straight up directly from the hiking trail, we decided to do this in reverse and drop straight back down to the trail. Then we would know if it was worth coming this way next time. What a mistake. We thrashed for ages through some of the nastiest thickest alder and devil's club you can possibly imagine. When we rejoined the hiking trail some time later we were hot, sweaty, scratched, and generally in a bad mood.

Live and learn but as always it was just nice to be outside.