Alpinfox Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Climb: Wiwaxy Peak-Grassi Ridge Date of Climb: 7/15/2005 Trip Report: As hard as this may be to believe, there are still a few classic routes in North America that Fred Beckey has not yet climbed. One such route that Fred has recently hoped to check off the unclimbed list was Grassi Ridge on Wiwaxy Peak located in Yoho National Park in far eastern British Columbia. This ~350m route which ascends the exposed SW prow of Wiwaxy peak often shows up in lists titled something like, “classic easy alpine rock climbs in the Canadian Rockies”. Wiwaxy Peak, located above Lake O’Hara in a stunningly beautiful corner of the world, is composed of quartzite and the rock quality is “pretty good… for the Rockies”. Fred contemplating the route: So last October, Fred, Colin Haley, and I saddled up the Subaru and galloped out to the Canadian hinterlands. We got as far as Revelstoke where Fred consulted his address book (stacks of fedex envelope cardboard rubberbanded together) and, after a few phone calls, found a place for us to crash on the floor of a heli-ski guide friend of his. This guy convinced us that our route was going to be covered in two feet of snow, so we turned the Sooobie around and galloped back to Seattle. 836 miles driven; no peaks climbed, but I knew we’d be back. On Tuesday I got a call from Colin, “IT’S ON!”. Well shit. I’d just recently started a new job, and didn’t really have any vacation time saved up yet, but what the hell. “Yup. I’m in.” We left Seattle on Wednesday evening only a couple of hours behind schedule and with far less wrangling with Fred about what rack to take than is usual, so I felt optimistic. Four McDonald’s and a couple of Tim Hortons stops later, we were in the Lake O’Hara parking lot where we ran into Barry Blanchard who had just returned from guiding some retired NY stock broker up in the O’Hara area. Lake O’Hara epitomizes everything lame about National Parks. One must make a reservation ($12 non-refundable reservation fee) very far in advance for the privilege of staying in one of the 30 densely clustered tent sites paying $8/person/night and trying to sleep through the the din of yowling children, bear locker doors slamming, and water pump squeaking. The backcountry wilderness experience: One must also pay $15 to ride the old school bus up the 13km dirt road from the parking lot while trying to ignore the in flight instructions and “important backcountry travel information” from the stewardess, I mean ranger. The bus runs a few times a day and the rich folks who stay in the cabins right on the lake ($600/couple/night if you are interested) get first dibs and the unsavory proles in the campground can just wait their turn thank you very much. The upshot of the whole deal is that the area is pretty damn scenic. Apparently, even the Cree Indians appreciated the splendor of the area; “yoho” means “awesome dude!” Looking straight on at Grassi Ridge on Wiwaxy: We woke up at 5:15 on Friday morning and were hiking toward the base of the route around 6:15. Approaching: About an hour later we were roped up and I led up the first pitch, a blocky steep (for 5.4) corner with tons of great holds and a few suspicious looking blocks that turned out to be firmly affixed to the mountain. Fred was tied into a butterfly about 10m from Colin’s end, so they climbed up together. After reaching the belay, Fred said he wasn’t feelin’ the groove and wanted to bail off. This was pretty disappointing, but he said that Colin and I should keep heading up and he’d walk across the valley and take pictures of the route. As Fred rapped off, I looked at Colin, “Simul?”. “Yup”. We finished the route off in two leads, mine ending about halfway up. Colin starting his block of the simulclimbing: The crux pitch has some of the worst rock on the route and is surprisingly steep for 5.7 – I pulled around a roof at one point! – but huge holds abound and the climbing, while intimidating looking, is never very difficult. Crux pitch: The best climbing on the route consisted of two short, clean faces above the crux pitch. Here is one of them. Colin sewing it up: The views we had from high on the route were outstanding! View: Colin led us to the summit where we hung around for a half hour or so and then descended. Colin on the summit: There are a couple of places where one can rappel, but by downclimbing a couple of ~10m low 5th class steps the raps can be avoided. The rest of the walkoff involved descending a somewhat loose dirt/scree gully that reminded me of the Cascadian Couloir on Stuart. Annoying, but simple. We made it back to tent just before noon and fed mosquitoes for a while waiting for Fred to show up. Gloomy black clouds rolled in and it started to rain lightly. I started to worry about Fred, so Colin and I went searching for him with no luck. Fred finally showed up and said he’d been hanging out in the day lodge (supposedly for cabin guests only) hitting on cute tourist ladies and downing the complimentary coffee (again, for cabin guests only). It's too bad that Fred wasn't feeling up to climbing that day, but he got a good taste of the route and enjoyed himself thouroughly. It's such an honor to climb with him and his strength, endurance, and humor never cease to amaze me. It was also great to hang out with Colin - a funny and talented climber who is now off to Pakistan to climb things that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He'll be turning 21 in a country where alcohol is illegal. Here's to him: Thanks guys! VIVA LA FRED!!! [hint] Colin wrote up a really good description of the route and perhaps he will post it here. [/hint] Gear Notes: Single rope Set O' nutz TCUs and cams to BD #1. Sugar, salt, pepper, and, most importantly, napkins from McDonalds. "Way better than toilet paper!" Approach Notes: Take the bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Cool. I see you finally got those Air Cams you ordered last month. Those things are SICK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toast Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Fuckin' cool bro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunger Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 superb pics. right on pax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layton Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 what a cool climb! nice guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucK Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 right on! Good day for trip reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Fred's been jonesing for Grassi for years now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szyjakowski Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Nice work Pax, Colin and Fred. I have always wondered about the mCd's napkins... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialed Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Right on. Canadian Rockies are a trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Busses are aid! W/ a full pack it's worth it but if you're traveling light you can hoof it up that road in no time and then you can catch the bus on the way out for free cuz they just want to get you out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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