Hermit Meadows TR

[jimmyleg66]

Days like today make me glad I have a desk job and can sit on my ass all day long.

 

Left Kamloops waaaaaaaaay late Friday night and didn't hit the trailhead until 11pm. Hiked up the trail (750m elev. gain over 2.8km) to Hermit meadows by headlamp, asleep by 1:30am and up at 6am OUCH. Snafflehound made off with 1/2 a chocolate bar duing breakfast. Did the Rogers/Swiss peaks traverse, up Rogers (10,500ft) west ridge and down the col in between the last Swiss peak and Truda. Class 3/4 scrambling with a few exposed moves. Fresh snow above 9500 ft which made for a bit tricky climbing. Great weather and unreal view from the summit of Rogers - you could see the Columbia Icefield, Mount Columbia and South Twin far to the north. 8 hours round trip from camp. Having just started climbing two months ago, got pretty sketched on a few of the more airy moves and took several headspace breaks.

 

Next day went up Tupper (9239ft) via the west ridge. Still feeling twitchy from the day before so I ended up moving pretty slow over the more exposed portions of the ridge. After the ridge a 5.3 pitch up a chimney and then blocky scambling to the top. Made the summit in 4-1/2 hours from camp, however on the descent,attemping to find a less exposed route around the Hermit resulted in a 4-1/2 hour descent. Should have just retraced our original route. Hiked out that evening and a flat tire on the way home resulted in a 1:00am return time. All in all a great weekend. If I don't get fired for coming in late for the third Monday in a row, I'll scan some photos in later this week.

 

If anyone has done this route before I'd like to know which ledge you used to traverse under the hermit on the southside, as described in the guidebook (ie how far below the ridge crest and how far back from the hermit). Not seeing anything obvious we stayed on the ridge crest which required a scary move (and a tight sphincter) over a slanted smooth block with no handholds.

[Dru]

jimmy check out www.bivouac.com Jason dixon has a TR and some photos of W ridge of Tupper that might have the beta you need.