Mt. Engadine - North West Ridge Scramble

July 26 Scott and I were back at the Mt. Barham/The Blade Col. Took a new line, way left of our attempt last summer, but again the steep slab shut us down with 5.9+ unprotectable climbing. We returned to our front country campsite to regroup. July 27 we needed a simple and easy day and chose the North West Ridge of Mt. Engadine. Fun easy day out with interesting scrambling and a good cardio workout. Just under 7 hours car to car. Great views and nice to tag a summit. 

View to Mt. Engadine at the end of the day. 

Big slab below The Blade / Mt. Barham col.
Difficult to protect and all 5.9+ lines. 

Back at camp dealing with defeat.

Onto the fun NW ridge of Mt. Engadine. 

View to the top of Mt. Engadine.

Enjoyable hiking and scrambling. 

Some fun sections. 

Scree slog after fun ridge.

View to the summit.

Scott's final steps to the pinnacle. 

High cloud views.

Summit posers.

Summit register.

Summit entry.

Cool lines, interesting gullies and steep ridges on 
"Mount Buller - West Peak"

“Cat’s Ears" (GR385179) - South Summit - West Face, 5.6 Alpine III

View from Opal Creek to the "Cat's Eats".
South summit is the right summit.

July 22 Scott Berry and I were successful on our climb of “Cat’s Ears” (GR383179). We had attempted this peak in July 2023, but didn’t figure out the route description. We climbed the West Face of South Cat’s Ear on the Don Forest/Gene Fraser route (1981), or close to it. The upper mountain, once at the col between the two Cat’s Ear, is a series of steep loose gullies, with steps of varying rock quality up to 5.6/5.7. A truly scary choss fest. The final pitch to the summit was fun 5.6 on solid rock with great pro. Not all the 5.6 climbing was as high quality. Incredible views from the summit ridge. Two high points on the summit ridge. Both appeared to have cairns, but I carefully disassembled both and found no register. I left a new summit register and book. Based on my research, our ascent is the second ascent. A stunning summit, but hard climbing on loose terrain, not an easy day for sure. Super happy to reach this elusive summit. 

"Cat's Ears" from Piper Creek.
View to South-East aspect of Cat's Ears.
I have always assume the name originated from this view of the peak. 

When I first developed the goal of my Opal 35 project back in 2011, there was very limited information for many of the peaks in the range. The old Green Book, "The Rocky Mountains of Canada - South" (Glen Boles, Robert Kruszyna and William Putnam) does not have any information on the Cat’s Ears, but first ascent accounts were published in the Canadian Alpine Journal (CAJ). David Jones' guidebook (2020) "Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1" was years away from being published, and I provided much of the information for the Opal Range section to David. The CAJ write up's are the same descriptions as in the David Jones guidebook and use the Cat's Ears titles. 

Route description from 
David Jones guidebook (2020)
"Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1"

CAJ article on Cat's Ears.

more to come...

Wasootch Peak. North to south traverse

 

View to Mt. Lorette. 

On Friday July 12, after a full day in the office and feeding the family dinner; last minute I decided on a quick bike n hike. Parked at the regular parking spot for Wasootch Peak, rode my bike about 4 kilometres north and hide my bike in the bush. Bush bashed up the north ridge of “Wasootch North Peak”. Fun scramble once above tree line. Great evening light and a cool breeze in the alpine. Great hike from the north peak to the main Wasootch Peak. Haven’t been in the hills much recently, so I pushed the pace and was happy with a car to car of 3 hours 15 minutes. Good times.