[MCR] Sir Douglas W Ridge

Subject: [MCR] Sir Douglas W Ridge
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:07:23 -0600
Tom Harding and I climbed the west ridge of Sir Douglas on Aug 6.

At our bivy at 2350 m at 1 am the temperature was +9.5, at the toe of the glacier it was +8.2 at 3.30 am. We had hoped to climb the NW Face, which is a fine looking route, but at the moment conditions on the face looks like thin snow over rock in a few spots low down, and the warm temperatures caused us to change our plans.

Snow conditions were mostly poor with a minimal freeze even at higher elevations. Anywhere the snow is thin or over rocks the crusts were breakable and would break down quickly in direct sunlight, resulting in significant avalanche risk. From the summit we heard water running on the NW Face, at 9 in the morning. These conditions were significantly different than we found on King George a few days before (and only 10 km away) and shows how the snowpack is still very dependent on weather conditions right now. Many areas are only being held together by surface crusts that are liable to break down with warm daytime or night-time temperatures. Glad we didn't go to Mt Bryce like we originally wanted!

We don't recommend the west ridge as an ascent route, it has a dirty ice tongue at the start with rock fall issues, and the rock ridge above is very loose. Even in descent the route is ugly. Note that if it is warm and you want to avoid the glacier tongue late in the day you can continue along the narrow w ridge over several small towers of crumbly rock to a small summit where the ridge becomes easier. Keep descending the ridge, bypass a rock step on it over scree to the north and then traverse back towards the ridge to avoid cliff bands below and keep descending the ridge to a col. From here 10 minutes down soft black scree to the north brings you to the valley below and your approach route from the morning.

Mark

Mark Klassen
Mountain Guide
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.alpinism.com