I guided a winter style, small "a" alpine, ascent of Wasootch Tower today,
April 7th. We gained the high col on the south ridge of the tower via the creek
bed that drains it to the northwest (a common summer trail contours above this
drainage to gain the col). There as a wee bit of post-holing getting into creek
bed but the snow soon became supportive. 10-15 centimetres of dry snow on a
supportive layer, the approach would have been a good ski run today!
The first gully leading in from climber's right had avalanched to about size 1
and a half. We took avalanche safety gear (beacon, probe and shovel) and it is
a good place to have it as avalanches are possible there now given well over a
meter of snow in the gullies.
The traditional ascent from the col up a chimney/groove system to a bolted
belay, and then traverse to climber's right to gain the summit via another
bolted belay, provided fine and engaging mixed climbing -snow and verglas over
rock. We had a great time climbing in crampons, dry tooling and hand hold
climbing. A good rack for today was 2 knifeblade pitons (I made 3 kb placements
en route), a half set of nuts, and cams from fingertip to fist. Ice screws
aren't necessary.
A fine day out,
happy trails,
Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca
www.yamnuska.com
_______________________________________________
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