A very cold week-end near Pemberton. Bonn-Tien experienced Ice climbing and frost bites for the first time...
Dean got to do his first lead climb on ice, he did awesome, I was very impressed.
We had an extremely cold night camping out and a thin layer of ice was covering our sleeping bags when we woke up.
Altogether, we got to do about 3 climbs each, not much for such a long ride. But I always consider Ice Climbing as a delicacy...
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Mount Harvey-North Ramp March 2011
Since Dean climbed the North Ramp last week but his pictures were just lame , I convinced him (very easily) do try to climb it again but in much “better” conditions.
We arrived at the trailhead at about 8 am, Where we were greeted by several parties also planning to climb Harvey but via the normal route.
At the 3 rd switchback, we had our first views of Harvey`s North Ramp, rather impressive from this point of view. From there, this is also where the snow started.
We put on the snowshoes at the Harvey north face logging road intersection, from there the snow was rather deep and difficult to travel.
It took us roughly 2 hours to make it to the bottom of the ramp from the car.
The snow was much deeper than the previous week, I was already burnt out and soaked from sweating so much. Also, there was a thick layer of hail on the ground and that really confused me for my AVI assessment.
The ramp did not frighten for its steepness (deep snow and max vertical 55 degrees) but because it s a nasty terrain trap for avalanches. As I was climbing up, I ,naively, stayed on the side, able to jump out of the couloir in case of something falling from above.
The climb was strenuous, in several parts, each step up was extremely difficult as the snow would collapse under my feet. However, I did enjoy some nice icy blocks, accelerating my ascent. I think the worst part was near the top of the ramp where the snow got very deep and the slope reached its max inclined. Every meter was a battle to win, by the time we arrived at the top of the ramp it was already 2 Pm, we had been on the ramp for more than 4 hours! Exhausting conditions!
The two traverse came up but the snow was much better as it was facing a different face. We ran some belays and confidently traversed the two slopes. I was really pissed off that Dean had traversed this solo a week before with a much harder snow, a slip could have been fatal.
About a 200 meters below Magnesia Meadows, facing West, I noticed some bluffs with at least 2 fat ice routes, has anybody ever climbed them? I thought at the logistics to do them, it still seemed worth it…
We finally made it to the summit at 4 PM, time when Dean was suppose to arrive at work…poor Dean.
The weather had been a bit cloudy during the day but we got a beautiful sunset as we were going back to the car.
It took us more than 10 hours to do the whole climb! I was completely exhausted but the thrill and adrenalin had made the adventure well worth it.
We arrived at the trailhead at about 8 am, Where we were greeted by several parties also planning to climb Harvey but via the normal route.
At the 3 rd switchback, we had our first views of Harvey`s North Ramp, rather impressive from this point of view. From there, this is also where the snow started.
We put on the snowshoes at the Harvey north face logging road intersection, from there the snow was rather deep and difficult to travel.
It took us roughly 2 hours to make it to the bottom of the ramp from the car.
The snow was much deeper than the previous week, I was already burnt out and soaked from sweating so much. Also, there was a thick layer of hail on the ground and that really confused me for my AVI assessment.
The ramp did not frighten for its steepness (deep snow and max vertical 55 degrees) but because it s a nasty terrain trap for avalanches. As I was climbing up, I ,naively, stayed on the side, able to jump out of the couloir in case of something falling from above.
The climb was strenuous, in several parts, each step up was extremely difficult as the snow would collapse under my feet. However, I did enjoy some nice icy blocks, accelerating my ascent. I think the worst part was near the top of the ramp where the snow got very deep and the slope reached its max inclined. Every meter was a battle to win, by the time we arrived at the top of the ramp it was already 2 Pm, we had been on the ramp for more than 4 hours! Exhausting conditions!
The two traverse came up but the snow was much better as it was facing a different face. We ran some belays and confidently traversed the two slopes. I was really pissed off that Dean had traversed this solo a week before with a much harder snow, a slip could have been fatal.
About a 200 meters below Magnesia Meadows, facing West, I noticed some bluffs with at least 2 fat ice routes, has anybody ever climbed them? I thought at the logistics to do them, it still seemed worth it…
We finally made it to the summit at 4 PM, time when Dean was suppose to arrive at work…poor Dean.
The weather had been a bit cloudy during the day but we got a beautiful sunset as we were going back to the car.
It took us more than 10 hours to do the whole climb! I was completely exhausted but the thrill and adrenalin had made the adventure well worth it.
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