[TR] Tomyhoi Peak - 5/26/2007

[suge]

Trip: Tomyhoi Peak -

 

Date: 5/26/2007

 

Trip Report:

Despite the foul weather forecast, Bob, Brenton, and I decided to give a run to Tomyhoi Peak over the weekend. Knowing that getting to the top was unlikely, we hauled a bunch of glacier gear up with which to practice anchors and crevasse rescue. That meant heavy packs for the snow slog. Twin Lakes road is clear of blow downs for about 2.5 miles and Bob's Accord didn't have any problems getting up there. Snow prevented us from going further. There are two washouts on the road a bit higher up, which means you won't be driving to the trailhead anytime soon.

 

 

After hauling up the road, we picked up the Yellow Aster Butte trail, which within a mile or so became snow covered, forcing us into taking a direct line up the snowy slope and into an open basin.

 

 

Although the weather wasn't super pleasant, we had enough visibility to navigate and, after battling off some camp robbers, took to an ascending traverse around the southern flanks of the mountains on the far side of the basin.

 

 

The snow was in excellent shape for kicking steps and I was happy, for once, that I had left my snow shoes in the car. We worked our way around the mountain, gaining elevation when possible, until we could see the drainage from Yellow Aster Lakes.

 

 

Mount Baker should have loomed massively to the south, but we could barely see the lowest edges of the mountain. Realizing that we were too low, we ascended the snow along the rim of the drainage, staying well back from the heavily corniced lip, until we could see where the lakes out to be. I say "ought", because no lakes were visible under the snow. The weather was getting worse, with higher winds, and Tomyhoi was not even remotely visible. We dropped down a steep slope, with a big cornice above us, and dug in for the night after determining (guessing) that we were not on top of one of the lakes.

 

 

General sloth kept us from getting any practice in. Instead, we melted snow and dined on Malaysian lamb curry and rice, which Bob had purchased from Hawkers, in Vancouver, and dried up at home.

 

 

By 8 there was little to see, though we had managed to pick out the base of Tomyhoi and settled on what we thought the start of the climb should be. There wasn't much hope for a summit in the morning, as we wanted to be able to see more than a hundred feet while climbing. Larrabee Peak did come out of the clouds occasionally.

 

 

Around 4 am the rain began to tap on the fly of the TGV. Aroudn 6 am Bob stuck his head out of the tent to take a look at our prospects and gave the typical Canadian curse, which sounded a lot like, "Hmm." I went back to sleep for an hour. Then another hour. The rain continued and I didn't do much more work for the next two hours other than point my camera out of the tent.

 

 

Visibility was down to about 40 feet when we packed up and set out at 10 am to retrace our steps, in the rain, mist, and snow, taking less than 2 hours to reach the trailhead. The rain, which had let off when we reached the cover of forest, decided to come back again and accompany us down the road walk to the cars.

 

 

Gear Notes:

An ice axe is useful, as are trekking poles.

 

Approach Notes:

Twin Lakes road is drivable for about 2.5 miles. About 1/2 mile past that the road is washed out and will take some significant work before you can drive to the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead. Snow is in good shape and snowshoes are not necessary. Stay away from rocks, as I punched through twice, with my leg dangling in open air.

 

On the way to and from the climb, make sure to stop at Grahams in Glacier. A big coffee and enormous apple fritter cost me $2. There is also an excellent selection of micro brews, including the rare Ur-thell Hop'it.

[catbirdseat]

My only previous attempt on Tomyhoi was similar. By the time we reached Yellow Aster Butte it was raining and we turned around. It rains a lot up there.

[els]

I was just thinking about heading back to that area. When I was there last year we had very similar weather. It's good to know how things are looking. Thanks for the report.

[chucK]

Thanks for the report.

 

this would probably be a good caption contest photo.

[Lisa_D]

Bummer about the weather--Tomyhoi is a fun climb! Try it in a day later in the season when the snow has melted out and the glacier section is small (no crevasses to worry about). It took me 9 hours car to car at a moderate pace with a few rest stops.

[iluka]

An update on road conditions:

 

You can now drive 3.5 miles up the Twin Lakes Road as they have cleared all the blow down to that point. At 3.5 miles there is a washout of the road which does not appear passable, leaving you about 1 mile short of the TH for Tomyhoi or Yellow Aster Butte

 

The basin up at Yellow Aster Lakes is entirely snow covered and the lakes are all still frozen. Except for a few spots, it is almost continuous snow up to the summit ridge, although with the warm temps, I suspect this will be changing fast.