We had attempted Frosty Mountain the previous year but had
been unsuccessful due to the difficulty to break trail all the way up to the
plateau but also by the lack of time.
In February 2012, a perfect anti cyclone arrived above BC and one of the most beautiful winter week-ends ever announced itself leaving us with a huge options of climbing possibilities.
I had just come back from Ecuador and I was ready to attempt the craziest mountains out there, explaining why we decided to do Mount Frosty…in two days…
We left Saturday morning and quickly made it to the trailhead. We decided to barely bring any gear and just rely on our tent and – 20 sleeping bags.
As soon as we started the climb, we felt that the snow was hard and compact which would allow a fast travel.
However, the forest part was as painful as I had remembered, a vague trail with still some pot holing.
Arrived at the plateau, we were clearly off trail and I only used my gps for orientation. That plateau seemed to be forever and the views were fairly poor. However we climbed up another slope and got out of the forest. This is when the magic started.
For some reason,
I felt like I was on the east coast with all the leafless larches and this large
flat area, of course the surrounding mountains reminded me where I was, but the
compact and cold snow had something very exotic here in powdery and greyish BC.
We found a perfect spot to put our tent, and surprisingly, the temperatures were actually very clement. We enjoyed an amazing sunset on Mount Winthrop in the US and we quickly went to bed, excited for our morning summit.
As we woke up, the sun was already out and the temperatures were April like, did not even need my jacket, it was really amazing and refreshing.
We quickly got ready and departed for our goal. We made it in a good time in the Frosty bowl where we observed our various options.
The standard route seemed very bare and kind of icy. We didn`t have crampons and was a bit worried of a potential fall. I however notice the northern ridge that had a welcoming snowpack.
I knew that
myself and Bonn-Tien would not be bothered by the steepness since boot packing
seemed fairly reliable. As expected, the ascent was a lot of fun but fairly
tiring, an ice axe would have been welcomed but the poles did the trick at this
point. 
At the summit, we enjoyed perfect 360 views
and I was already
thinking of a way I could negotiate with Bonn-Tien to do the ridge for the
western summit. However, the conditions did not look too great so I took a lot
of pictures to study this route in the safety of my home and plan my future
trips.
We took our usual summit shots
and headed back
down in perfect front descending conditions, the caviar of snow. 
We quickly made it back to our camp where we gathered our gear and headed back home. On our way out, we met a group of clutreadders that we had met at Sandu`s go away party and shared a bit of our trip information and impressions.
The way back to the car was way faster and way more pleasant now that a well marked trail had been created.
Overall, as many have experienced before, an amazing destination that cannot be overrated.
In February 2012, a perfect anti cyclone arrived above BC and one of the most beautiful winter week-ends ever announced itself leaving us with a huge options of climbing possibilities.
I had just come back from Ecuador and I was ready to attempt the craziest mountains out there, explaining why we decided to do Mount Frosty…in two days…
We left Saturday morning and quickly made it to the trailhead. We decided to barely bring any gear and just rely on our tent and – 20 sleeping bags.
As soon as we started the climb, we felt that the snow was hard and compact which would allow a fast travel.
However, the forest part was as painful as I had remembered, a vague trail with still some pot holing.
Arrived at the plateau, we were clearly off trail and I only used my gps for orientation. That plateau seemed to be forever and the views were fairly poor. However we climbed up another slope and got out of the forest. This is when the magic started.
For some reason,
I felt like I was on the east coast with all the leafless larches and this large
flat area, of course the surrounding mountains reminded me where I was, but the
compact and cold snow had something very exotic here in powdery and greyish BC.
We found a perfect spot to put our tent, and surprisingly, the temperatures were actually very clement. We enjoyed an amazing sunset on Mount Winthrop in the US and we quickly went to bed, excited for our morning summit.
As we woke up, the sun was already out and the temperatures were April like, did not even need my jacket, it was really amazing and refreshing.
We quickly got ready and departed for our goal. We made it in a good time in the Frosty bowl where we observed our various options.
The standard route seemed very bare and kind of icy. We didn`t have crampons and was a bit worried of a potential fall. I however notice the northern ridge that had a welcoming snowpack.
I knew that
myself and Bonn-Tien would not be bothered by the steepness since boot packing
seemed fairly reliable. As expected, the ascent was a lot of fun but fairly
tiring, an ice axe would have been welcomed but the poles did the trick at this
point. At the summit, we enjoyed perfect 360 views
and I was already
thinking of a way I could negotiate with Bonn-Tien to do the ridge for the
western summit. However, the conditions did not look too great so I took a lot
of pictures to study this route in the safety of my home and plan my future
trips.We took our usual summit shots
and headed back
down in perfect front descending conditions, the caviar of snow. We quickly made it back to our camp where we gathered our gear and headed back home. On our way out, we met a group of clutreadders that we had met at Sandu`s go away party and shared a bit of our trip information and impressions.
The way back to the car was way faster and way more pleasant now that a well marked trail had been created.
Overall, as many have experienced before, an amazing destination that cannot be overrated.
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