Vesper Peak: Moat condtions (8/31/03)

[highclimb]

just got back from Vesper's north face. the glacier was fine. brought lightweight aluminum crampons and ice axe. would not have been fun without the crampons....actually it would have been scary....the Moat is crossable. we had to step across onto the face and then downclimb a bit in the moat to get to easier ground. all in all a great trip...go get it.

 

Aidan

[babnik]

look out for this kid. how old are you again?

[Travis]

We topped out about a minute ahead of you guys, making you stop and wait (and sing War Pigs) before simul-climibng the last pitch. Highly enjoyable climb, I think; we had an awesome day and I'd recommend it highly as a nice moderate, low-stress alpine route on nice rock.

 

Some approach beta might be in order here since there were at least three other parties who missed the approach and two of them ended up dragging climbing gear up the scramble route instead. Basically, don't cross the creek after Headly Pass, follow the trail through the tent sites instead. From there its up to the col left of the waterfall and then it's obvious.

 

We avoided the moat issues by traversing into the climb higher up. (stay low on the ledges)

 

 

[highclimb]

Yes singing is a must-do while in the mountains! But you must stick to high pitch yelling rock like Led Zepplin and such! i do a great robert plant.

 

anyways..... yeah appraoch beta for the lower col to gain the glacier. Travis is correct we hiked up along the left side on the basin (did not cross the stream and continue up) to the lake where you can see above and to the left is a waterfall. we hiked to the top of that on the left side to a small snow patch and the col is right in front of you a hundered meter. from there you scramble down a fair amount to the glacier below. hope this helps.

 

Aidan