Mount Packenham - North Gully, East Ridge, Alpine II, 5.6

On the fifth anniversary of the famous Nugara ascent of Mt. Packenham, Raff and I decided to climb this lovely peak.  Actually it was just a coincidence that Raff and I ascended Mt. Packenham on the same August day (our ascent Aug. 6, 2012).  Raff was out peak bagging Saturday and Sunday, so we had a late start to let Raff get some sleep.  We were both very concerned about the probability of a thunderstorm and figured we had a 50/50 chance of getting chased off the mountain when we left the parking area at 11am.

Hot, hot approach leaving the car at midday, so we set a casual pace up towards Grizzly Col.  About half way up to the col we cut due east towards the basin between Mt. Evan-Thomas and Mt. Packenham.  Once on the scree fields we picked the line of least resistance towards the most eastern scree cone that provides access to the steep gully on the north face of Packenham.

We had our first rest stop, ate and drink a lot, then plodded up to the steep gully.  She looked long.  On descent we figured that the gully is about 400 metres tall.  About 1/5 of the lower gully is on good scree when you want poles, then the remaining 4/5’s is a variety of steep scree, peddles on slab and several difficult rock steps.  Raff and I stayed to climber’s left all the way up, but did get cliffed out nearing the summit ridge.  A bit of route finding got us onto an exposed ledge that lead into a gully system to climber’s right.  This gully steepens even more and ends on the most eastern summit of three summits of Packenham.

Along the summit ridge heading west we encountered both bad and good rock quality with difficult and exposed scrambling.  The skies were getting dark far to the north west, but we were not too worried yet. Nearing the summit block the ridge looked steep and we did set up belay stations, but the climbing was actually fairly straightforward, maybe 5.0 (?) (we did downclimb these steps on the way down).  The final summit is guarded by steep wall that is about 30 metres tall and provides solid fifth class climbing.

Final summit block

I was able to bang in two bomber pitons for a comfortable belay station.  I lead straight up the face (same as the Andrew Nugara’s lead).  The first few moves off the station were probably 5.6 and I did get a perfect wire placement (#6), but about 15 metres up, it was obvious the chance of getting rock protection was low.  The climbing was getting easier, probably 5.4, but I didn’t like the lack of protection, so I dowclimbed, clean my nut, and then traversed far right to a small pinnacle, maybe 5.4 climbing.  Access to get behind the pillar was tougher, four or five strenuous 5.6 moves, but I had sunk a perfect piton so I was well protected.  Once between the pinnacle and the summit block the grade was easy, maybe 5.2, so I blasted up quickly as we were hearing more and more thunder from the distant dark clouds.

I built a quick piton station and bought Raff up, then we ran the final 30 metres to the summit since the dark clouds were moving in.  Once on the summit the clouds appeared to staying to the north so we did relax a bit to enjoy the view.  6.5 hours to the 3000m summit from the highway. There was a small summit cairn, but I couldn’t find any register.

Leaving, I belayed Raff’s downclimb to the lower station, then removed my piton station and downclimbed with a belay from below, cleaned the piton and meet Raff below.  I again belayed Raff’s downclimb and removed the station.  We left nothing on the mountain, no slings or pitons.

Quick scramble back to the top of the gully, then the long butt slide/downclimb to the scree cone.  We made the soft grass just as it got dark, then the big Grizzly Col trail, then a surprise detour back to Ripple Rock Creek (I am not going to use the “L” word ;-) and finally the car; yeah!  All in, Raff and I were 12 hours car to car.  Great day out with a lot of variety of climbing and scrambling and no rain or thunderstorms!