[TR] Wedge Mountain British Columbia- North Arete 6/26/2005

[iluka]

Climb: Wedge Mountain British Columbia-North Arete

 

Date of Climb: 6/26/2005

 

Trip Report:

 

 

Set off with two friends to climb the North Arete of

Wedge Mountain at the end of June, 2005. We hiked up

to Wedgemount Lake on Saturday. Trail the entire way

and, boy, is it a butt-kicker with full pack and

mountaineering gear on one's back. 3,900 feet up in

7km with only a few, short flat sections along the

way. The trail is pretty rutted out with lots of

exposed tree roots and rocky spots just waiting to

twist an ankle here or there. There are occasional spots early in the season where one can fill a water bottle or two.

 

The reward at the top of

the trail make it well worth it as the views of the

lake and the surrounding peaks are quite magnificent,

particularly in the low, late afternoon light.

Somehow, on the way up the trail, though, that doesn't

seem like such a high priority. There's a small,

spartan hut at the lake with room to sleep perhaps 8

or so and space to stash gear while off on the climb.

There's also a toilet, which, surprisingly given the

large pile of you know what underneath didn't smell

that bad! There are several small ponds with water

near the hut but if you're looking to avoid boiling or

risking Giardia, early season there are many streams

draining from the ridges above the lake which provide

a nice, clean water source.

 

The next morning, we were up at 4AM and off for the

summit by 4:45. In hindsight, given the changes in

weather that occurred, a 45-60 minute earlier

departure might have been better. We headed around the

north side of the lake to the terminus of the glacier.

There's a faint trail out that way from the hut but if

you don't find it, it's no big deal as the route is self-explanatory. A 20 minute walk brought us to the morraine at the end of the lake and right to the foot of the glacier where we opted to rope up. Crampons were necessary as the bottom of the glacier was firm ice with no snow on it. We hit snow after only a few minutes of walking up the easy slope onto the glacier. Crevasses were visible but were barely open at this point and easily crossed. We had been told that is not always the case as my partners knew or had heard of people who had fallen in to their waists in the past.

 

As we got out onto the level part of the glacier we saw the two options for gaining the ridge that comprises the North Arete. It is possible to work high up on the glacier and climb a steep snow slope that puts you on the ridge about 2/3 of the way along its length towards the summit. We were intrigued by what we had heard about the ridge run and opted to do it's full length instead. We headed up the wide, less steep snow slope to our left lower down on the glacier. Rather than going all the way to the top of this slope, we traversed to our right and headed up a short gully that led to the ridge proper. This stretch was a bear as the snow was very soft and Paul, out in the lead, was constantly breaking through as he put in steps. Out on the ridge itself, we had a view of the entire route. Two things strike one at this point: (1) It's still a long way to the summit and (2) there's a lot of exposure on both sides.

 

 

 

We opted to stay roped up for the ridge run, prepared to jump off the opposite side if one of us fell. Most of the ridge was covered in snow, although there were a few short sections with mixed climbing on snow and rock -- always fun in crampons. Fortunately, there wasn't too much ice as that would make that ridge an unpleasant experience at best. The snow was soft enough that we could get in very reliable steps, perhaps a bit too soft, in spots however, as the second and third people were often breaking through. We spent sometime on the east side of the ridge and some time on the west side... it's easy to tell when to be in what spot. It took us perhaps a bit more than an hour to do the bulk of the ridge and get to the bottom of the steeper portion up to the summit ridge. From afar, it looks pretty steep an unappealing but once at its base, the slope didn't appear too bad after all. We had good snow for making solid steps. Still a lot of exposure at this point and no good runout if you happen to fall on this part. Had the snow been firmer, we might have opted to place some pickets but with it being so soft and our footholds so good, we decided not to do so.

 

After 30-45 minutes we were on the summit ridge. From there, it's a 100 m horizontal distance walk to the summit itself with perhaps 10m of elevation gain, if that much. We arrived just in time for the clouds to blow in from the south and take away the view. We wasted all of about 2 minutes on the summit itself before heading back down to where we gained the ridge to pick up our rope and grab some food. Some books say you can descend the North Arete itself but in the whiteout, that didn't look very appealing. Nor did the prospect of going back along the entire ridge itself before dropping off the glacier.

 

We decided instead to descend the talus slopes on the west face of the peak. Hard to give a great description here as we were in a whiteout most of the way. We followed the talus slope down to about 7700 feet and then traversed to the right where we eventually came to a saddle -- or so it seemed in the whiteout. Try to avoid heading too much to the north or sticking too close to the west ridge itself as this can take you into some steep, gnarly terrain. Around 7700 feet, we were fortunate to pick up some foot prints and followed these in the snow. We dropped off a steep snow slope to the northwest before it levelled out after 20m into a basin which we followed to the north. Crossing alternating snow fields and talus fields, we eventually made it to the broad saddle that sits between Wedge and it's large neighboring peak to the west. The saddle is easily seen earlier in the trip when you start ascending the glacier. From here, it was an easy trip down the glacier to the lake and back to camp. A bit of a break there and then 3,900 steep feet back to the car.

 

Time to summit: 4 hours, 45 minutes from the lake (slowed by soft snow and a lot of step kicking in a lot of spots). Car to the lake will take 3-4 hours with full packs, less with a day pack

Descent time from summit to lake: 3 hours

Lake back to car: 2.5-3 hours

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Helmet

Axe

Harness

Crampons

Rope

Pickets (one apiece)

 

Approach Notes:

Trail: 7km, 3900 butt-kicking feet up steep, rutted trail

Edited July 5, 2005 by iluka