Wedge Mt. 2/22/05

Wedge Mt. 2/22/05
Bill and I set out to climb Wedge Mt. under perfect weather and with three days to do it. Our plan was to attempt the North Face, route #45 in Alpine Select. This was Bills second trip since being out of action for 1 1/2 yrs due to a broken ankle and torn tendons. Perhaps we should have selected a little easier goal as we didn't make rapid enough progress to make the summit. We started out well enough but the soft snow made the walk up too slow for us to make camp up on the glacier so we settled into the hut. Next morning the day dawned clear and cold and the snow had a hard crust on it but not hard enough to support us, so you step and break through, step and break through. It was slow going and hard work again. For some reason Bill was not feeling well and was moving very slow. He couldn't get warm even after the romp up the glacier. We had to stop and he put his down jacket on and tried to eat some pepperoni and cheese in an attempt to get warm. It didn't work so he decided to head back down to the hut.
I dropped a bunch of gear now since the North Face route wasn't going to happen and pressed on upwards for the N.E. Arete route. The crusty snow was a serious pain. I got as far as the high point on the arete where the conditions suddenly changed. By now the sun had been beating on the south side of the arete making the snow very sloppy. I was getting snow balled up on my crampons big time. The ridge ahead was heavily corniced on the North side but quite thin on the south side where it is quite steep. I decided not to continue since I was solo. The conditions of the arete looked perfect further on but I thought it was too risky. Oh well, it will still be there for the next time ....

Looking toward the summit from the hut.

Bill pointing the way.

Moving up the glacier. It is in much better shape than a few months ago when I was here.

...and up.

This is as far as Bill got. He's trying to choke down some pepperoni and cheese sticks to get warm.

Looking down towards the Wedge - Weart col.

Looking up to the arete high piont.

This was as far as I got due to the soft snow conditions.

Like the yellow brick road.

Corniced arete.

.

The arete looked in perfect shape.

The summit ridge.

The arete and North Face which was our original objective.

The tools beggin' to get used.

Self portait.

Looking down the arete.

Looking across the Weart Glacier towards Mt. James Turner.

Lesser Wedge.

The owls on Mt. Weart

Wedge summit in the background.

Looking over the edge, down to the galcier.

High point of the arete.

Having fun with a 15 second exposure.

We had perfect weather and a full moon. Look closely and you can see the stars.

Full moon.

Full moon exposure of the cabin.

Sliding down into the trees.

Arrgghh, rigid crampons.

We had a great time.

Mt. Matier

Bill, Kumar and I went for quick trip to attempt Mt. Matier. It was Bills first time back climbing since he broke his ankle 1 1/2 yr. ago. We didn't expect too much generally took it pretty easy.
Deep fresh snow made the going a bit slow especially over the still exposed rocks.
The plan was to try the the N.W. face route but owing to Bill ankle and the fact that Kumar was moving the speed of my grandmother we decided just to go the the upper lake and screw around for the day.
A great 2 days days out with friends anyway....

My climbing buddy Bill, looking happy to be back in the mountains.

That's me organizing some gear.

Our destination, Mt. Matier.

Upper Joffre lake.

About as close as we came to doing any climbing.

Camp.

View up from camp.

Looking up the the seracs.

Coming down in deep snow.

Looking up to Rexs pillar.