AJ Posted April 1, 2002 Posted April 1, 2002 Has anyone climbed any of the north facing routes on Wedge? Any favorites? How about time of year for climbing these. From reading on bivouac.com and McLane's guidebook it sounds like most people are doing these in late Spring. How are they in August? Quote
jhamaker Posted April 1, 2002 Posted April 1, 2002 August?! Shoot, the snow is the only thing holdng those mountains together. Went to take a look at the N ridge last spring. A bit of a knife edged traverse up to the face - we wanted pickets to protect. Quote
jordop Posted April 1, 2002 Posted April 1, 2002 All the three north couloirs have sizable cornices overhanging them; have seen one collapse more than once while on the Wedge Glacier. Yes, before August is a good bet. Check out Dru's Snowy Owl; probably a bit more technical/longer? Dru? Calling Dru? Probably actually doing something! I hate posting on weekends; it's so obvious that once again I have crapped out of my climbing plans to do work. Quote
Dru Posted April 2, 2002 Posted April 2, 2002 Conditions are best in July and August for ice. Dont climb under cornices, and earlier season makes for easier schrund crossings. Take a few pickets and screws. Most of them are pretty soloable,depending on your headspace. North ridge makes a good descent. Quote
todd Posted April 2, 2002 Posted April 2, 2002 hmmm...i did the NE arete on wedge in mid august and found the conditions to be ideal. the route was outstanding, and i definitely recommend it. the glacier couldve been in better shape but it wasnt a big problem. the alpine select book gives the route as going up the glacier and joining the arete high up. but that way it seems youre missing 2/3 of the arete, and the schrund wouldve been a bitch to cross when we were there. alpine select also mentions an "alternative" - to go to the col and climb the arete in its entirety. that is what i did and i dont know why anyone would do otherwise - it was so aesthetic and is only 3rd class scrambling with maybe a couple meters of 4th class scrambling that leads directly to that beautiful snow arete. anyway, an excellent route, and you only need two days to do it. enjoy! Quote
Dru Posted April 2, 2002 Posted April 2, 2002 quote: Originally posted by todd: you only need two days to do it. enjoy! wedge and weart have been linked up 12 hrs round trip from the parking lot. do it as a day trip... but leave at midnight for best snow conditions and then you can go into whistler and laff at the tourists in the afternoon. i like to sit down in whistler streets with my alpine scum on and my helmet put out in front of me and see how much spare change i can get. Quote
todd Posted April 2, 2002 Posted April 2, 2002 right, sure, and im sure it can be done in even less! but i bet most folks will want to do it in two days - 1 up, next summit and back down. are you actually suggesting that AJ should try to do it in a day? i dont know AJ, make your own decision, but car-summit-car in a day would be a long one and kinda pointless unless youre going for some speed record. its a beautiful place and youll enjoy being up there - leave your stopwatch at home. Quote
Dru Posted April 2, 2002 Posted April 2, 2002 quote: Originally posted by todd: right, sure, and im sure it can be done in even less! but i bet most folks will want to do it in two days - 1 up, next summit and back down. are you actually suggesting that AJ should try to do it in a day? i dont know AJ, make your own decision, but car-summit-car in a day would be a long one and kinda pointless unless youre going for some speed record. its a beautiful place and youll enjoy being up there - leave your stopwatch at home. rather than say it is a one day, two day, three day trip etc. i just like to give an estimate of hours and let ppl work out their own schedule as to days. i did n arete as a 2 day trip years ago and if i did it again i would go as a lightweight 1 day trip to avoid carrying the camping gear up the long steep trail . Quote
todd Posted April 3, 2002 Posted April 3, 2002 yeah, i was actually thinking about that over lunch (the carrying extra gear thing). you have a point there. but i still think most folks would find a one day round trip climb, especially their first time up there, to be a bit much. whatever - we must be bored - i should go do some actual work... Quote
AJ Posted April 3, 2002 Author Posted April 3, 2002 Thanks for the advice. I'm going to put this on my "To Do" list for the summer. One day RT might be a bit ambitious for me but it isn't out of the question. What is the deal with the hut at the lake? Can anyone use it or is it only winter access? Also, Weart sounds like a good mountain as well - would anyone recommend it? Quote
Dru Posted April 3, 2002 Posted April 3, 2002 The hut sleeps 6 good friends or 4 normal people. There are usually about 20 people sleeping in the area on most weekends. So... take your chances. There are no dry rocks nearby to sleep under. (Actually everybody plans on camping and no one ever sleeps in the hut. Shhhhh.) weart N face looks rad. doing traverse along NW ridge also looks good. i walked all the way around weart but didnt climb it yet. the cairn on weart can be dangerous, it fell over on a friend of a friend and broke her leg. Quote
rayborbon Posted April 8, 2002 Posted April 8, 2002 Dru, Thinking about hitting this peak. I will send you a message. Looks good. Quote
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