Uto Peak – Southwest Ridge

PD 5.1.
2,927m

Finding myself in Roger’s Pass without a climbing partner for Mt. Sir Donald (at the top of my wish list this summer), I climbed up the SW ridge of Uto and down the NW. For a 5.7-8 alpine climber (and, perhaps, more to the point, a dad and husband) this was right near the limit of my comfort zone as a solo climb. I brought climbing shoes ‘just in case’ and ended up using them for the entire climb! A very nice route on good rock, though plenty of loose stuff to pay attention to. It’s been a smoky month or so in the Rockies and across the province, but I had a relatively nice day, and stunning views. I had Uto all to myself, and saw just a couple parties on Sir Donald. Pretty sure I also saw a wolverine at first light in the boulder field on the hike up.

Participants: Pip.

Guidebook: David Jones (2012), Rogers Pass Alpine Guide.

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Mt. Yuckness – South Summit, Northwest ridge

PD 4th Class

2,851m

Eloïse and Simon got their first alpine start this morning in order to get up Yuckness before catching our return bus after 4 fantastic days at Lake O’Hara. This is a super fun scramble with some very-real exposure that had at least one of the dad’s in our group questioning how he felt about having his son tied to him while he negotiated the trickier bits. Really, really good views of the Lake O’Hara area from the summit, despite pretty heavy smoke; a great way to cap off our trip.

The climbers trail to the West face departs (left) from the main trail shortly after climbing up above Opabin lake (3-5min from the lake). Though unsigned it is very clear. From there we easily followed the cairns up scree to the col between south and north summits, where we roped up for the summit push. On the way down we took the alternate, 3rd class scramble back to the col.

Participants: Pip, Aaron, Eloïse, Simon.

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Mt. Schäffer – Southwest ridge

F  3rd class.

2,691m

When it comes to getting a group of 8 adults and 6 kids up Mt. Schäffer the crux move comes 3 months ahead of summit day when you have to book the hugely popular campsite at Lake O’Hara. This is not a trivial matter given that the method Parks Canada uses for this purpose is a good old fashioned phone line that opens to all comers at 8am. Fortunately we had the numbers, and with almost all of the adults in our groups pressing redial for a couple hours on the appointed day we got the sites we needed. As for Schäffer itself, the Southwest ridge was the perfect outing for our group. A pleasant hike to McArthur Lake followed by a steep climb up talus to the base of the SW ridge, where we tied the kids up and headed for the top. 

On the approach we took the High-Level Circuit trail to the high point above McArthur Lake (marked by a huge cairn pile) and then left the trail and worked up right and around to the West shoulder. On the descent we took a more direct line back to this same point on the main trail, which I recommend for both ascent and descent. This is easier to nail on the way down as you simply follow the direction off southwest ridge and keep going; on the way up, put your back to the cairn pile and head up into the talus bowl; look for a small break in the cliff band ahead, through which you can gain the SW ridge.

Participants: Pip, Lisa, Eloïse, Oliver, Aaron, Lisa, Simon, Linnaea, Jocelyn, Andrew, Sparrow, Luca, Guy, and Victoire.

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Wiwaxy Peak – Grassi (South) Ridge

AD+ 5.6-5.7 (10 pitches)
2,706m

Packing up for a family-and-friends hiking trip to Lake O’Hara I thought it was wishful thinking to throw in climbing gear. However, as soon as we got off the bus at the campground and looked across the road to Wiwaxy, We 3 Dads exhibited some quick decision making and got up Grassi Ridge before anyone else was the wiser (the rest of the trip was devoted to family-oriented hikes and scrambles, honestly). After missing the climber’s trail on our first pass (this departs from the trail on the north side of Cataract Brook; we beefed up the cairns a few days later), we had a straightforward approach and very enjoyable climb. As the guide says, most anchors are bolted, and those that aren’t are atop large ledges and can easily be protected with a bit of gear or by slinging a bolder (not all are rap anchors, however; you would need to leave some hardware to get off the route the way you came).

As we approached the West Summit (where the Grassi ridge tops out) we started looking nervously across to the East Summit and the descent trail that traverses beneath it. From our vantage point this looked like the sketchiest (steep, loose) thing we had ever seen, and with very little daylight to play with we were wondering what kind of epic lay ahead. In fact, it was nothing of the sort and we were simply being fooled by foreshortening.

The guide suggests 10-11 pitches. We lost count but ended up doing 12 or 13 including very short pitches 5 and 8 between close anchors. Not sure why these anchors were built this way; both are situated ahead of 3rd class terrain so perhaps the idea is to rig a quick belay without building a full anchor or dealing with the rope drag that would come from the leader continuing over this 3rd class terrain. Three full-length rappels (with a bit of scrambling between #2 and 3) get you to the col between West and East summits; very high potential for rockfall here. Traverse beneath East Peak on the aforementioned trail followed by a quick, very steep descent down to the Wiwaxy gap trail and back to the lake.

* David P. Jones (2015), Rockies Central: The Climbers Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada (Volume 2).

Participants: Pip, Aaron, Alex.
Gear: a small rack of wires and cams (small).

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