Camp Peak

High Hopes

We were hoping to climb Birthday Peak, but somehow knew that it wouldn’t be offered. Our next choice was Double Vision peak, that only Stephane and I endorsed it when the choices were made – and Double Vision was a lost cause, as people wanted to do Wink Wink Nudge Nudge (what a great name??? !!  :)) and Camp Peak.

This meant that we would sign to climb Camp Peak.

We were going to cross lower Stockdale glacier

We renamed Birthday peak to "Not Happening Peak", and had couple of other names as well:"Not as Advertised", "Won't get there Peak"......

I was a bit reluctant to go to Camp Peak as I was a bit tired by now, and it seemed that the group who did it the day before, needed 10 hours to complete it. I didn’t want to burn myself completely.

But on the other hand, the route description was quite inviting and it seemed it had everything. Also, I knew that Stephane would go, so I didn’t have much choice  J.

Lower Stockdale glacier

It was a routine start of the day, 5:50 AM getting up, packing a gear, washroom lineup, excellent breakfast, no washing dishes for me today!  J, tea tent group meeting, and departure by 7:35 AM (I know, it was slow again....late start). This time and the only time, we descended following the creek, and the start was uneventful – but, as we were losing altitude, I knew that we would be gaining it back, and that will happen after 7, 8 hours of intensive walking, hiking, scrambling, maybe even climbing. And that was not going to be pretty  J.

Getting ready

On glaciers

We put our crampons on and roped up at the right hand side of a lower Stockdale glacier – I was in a 4 person team, with Sylvia as a lead, Kent as a second, and Rick at the end.  Perfect setup for me – as I didn’t have to do anything – no work during short roping transitions, as Kent and Rick would adjust the rope  J. Lucky me. Or lazy, should I say.

This was my first time to be on the same rope as Sylvia, and I knew I’d expect to follow the rules – but I also knew it would be quite safe – she seemed like someone who saw safety to be of the paramount importance. At first I didn’t know Rick’s abilities, and I was a bit concerned as he was a big guy (so I was thinking if he slips on a steep slope, or goes into crevasse, it would be tough to catch him, and hold him). However, Sylvia said that she climbed with him for many years and knew him and his abilities.

“I guess, I am in a good position, and it will be a walking event, all the way to the top”, I thought. “On the other hand, I don’t like to have a peak delivered to me, I want to work for it”, I also thought “But what the heck, it was the last day and I should accept this gift”.

Advancing on the lower glacier

We quickly crossed the first glacier without any problems. We had to go around big crevasses, so it added a bit of time, but there was no any danger. It was icy and we could see where we were going. There were couple of moments when we had to maintain our balance on narrow little ridges between crevasses, and to cross the crevasses by jumping over them – and that was a bit more interesting.

Once on the other side, we quickly descended to the end of the glacier, removed our crampons and headed towards the second glacier, around and above the big rocky ledge. When I was looking at it the day before from distance, it looked not passable, but it was wide enough to allow cars to go through. It was a bit rough, but still it was a highway, comparing to all scree infested rock bends in Alberta.

On the rocky ledge between glaciers

In no time we were at the toe of the second glacier. This one looked quite benign, comparing to the first one, and we were quickly advancing. I liked Sylvia’s approach and pace. She was maintaining it in a steady manner, and there were no unnecessary breaks, chit-chats – it was all about the business, and in my mind that’s how these things should be done. We passed some huge crevasses on our right and our left, and then we had to cross a snow bridge that covered another gargantuan crevasse. That was a bit more exciting, and I made sure to follow Sylvia’s and Kent’s steps. I would know in advance if anything challenging was coming, as Kent would slow down and carefully walk through the area that smelled on danger.

On the second glacier

The last part of the second glacier was steeper, but the pace was so good, that I didn’t have any difficulties. Breathing was good, muscles were good, spirits were high, only thing that irritated me was the fact that I still had to put the crampons on 2 times, on our way back. I just hate putting crampons on. It never works the way how I want it. I am quite proficient with it, but somehow, I always struggle with it. I guess I need to become more flexible.

Passing big crevasses on our left

Stephane was in a team behind us, with Morgan and Ryan. I was thinking if this was a bit more interesting for him – and later he confirmed that it was. I was taking pictures here and there, as there was no stopping.

Our path between crevasses

Again, pretty quickly we reached the col between Camp and other peak, and stopped for a 10 – 15 minute half-lunch break. I was quite hot at this moment after climbing steep slope of the glacier, but the mountains offer you a quick heat relief with strong and cold winds. That felt great.

The Summit

After a quick lunch there was only one thing to do – to get to the top. Sylvia said that if we don’t move, the summit won’t come to us by itself, so we started our scrambling ascent to the top. It was still approximately 200 vertical meters to the top, and the second half looked quite steep. Well, steep or not, this was quite an easy part. We were on the top in a no time, and all peaks on every side looked now closer and more beautiful. It was cloudy, so that part wasn’t perfect, and it was windy (so I was cold quite quickly), but then, it could’ve been much worse. Mountains have their laws and mountains can be kind to us – only if we are able to understand it.

Stephane and I took summit photos and videos in which we talked to our better halves, telling them how much we’ve missed them and wanted them to be with us on this beautiful summit.

I could imagine how my beautiful Ada would rather be in Banff, hanging out with Josephine and Luke in a jewelry store, or swimming in Banff Centre, or shopping in a Chinook mall  J.

We left the summit around 12:05 PM, and quickly reached the col, where we left all ice travel equipment on our way up. It was time now to gear up again for a glacier travel, and I knew that after this, there will be only one more time to put the crampons on  J.

During the descent, Rick was leading, and as a second I was following. He knew what he was doing, so I it was just like a walk on a Calgary waterfront. It was a quick descent, during which we didn’t walk over our ascending tracks. When we passed the snow bridge at the big crevasse, Sylvia got a closer look of it and announced that it still “had a lot of juice”, “so it might last longer”. I thought it was a good news, as the following groups, in weeks 3-5, would also attempt to climb Camp Peak.

On our way back

We removed crampons yet again, quickly passed the rock ledges, and this was where I started feeling a bit tired. As we were passing through some snowy patches, the boots would get wet, and then it was slippery on the rocks. At one moment I slid, almost feel, as Ryan stopped me of falling. He said how “now you owe me one life saving”  J. On these sharp rocks, even a little mishap could be painful, so I was quite thankful to Ryan.

Exciting moment came when we reached the first (second going back) glacier, as that meant that this was the last time on this trip to put crampons on. Yessss! I did it quickly, we short roped, and Sylvia took a lead. She chose the left hand side of the glacier (looking from the top to the bottom) to descend, as it wasn’t that broken as the middle part and right  hand side. This was quite smooth and fast – this route was better than our ascend route that went through the middle section. We quickly passed through the glacier, there was one little step that Sylvia and Kent down climbed, but I jumped over it, and Rick after me as well. “Don’t break your ankle”, Sylvia said. She was right as jumping with crampons on could be dangerous. But I felt I would be faster to jump than to down climb.

Last 100 meters, Rick took a lead, and he almost took us to one huge crevasse, so we had to go around it, instead of jumping over it, and funny enough, at the very end, when only probably, 10 meters was left to reach the rocks, he almost fell into snow hidden crevasse – great lesson learned, to be focused until the very end.

Comfort

Removing the crampons, harness and helmet felt almost as an orgasm. Well, maybe not  J. But I knew that I won’t have to do it again on this trip. It felt great. It felt great, even though we had to climb some 250 meters vertical to reach the camp. Luca took a lead, and “he tried”, as he said, when he missed the trail, so we had to descent some rocks. But, in the big picture, all of that was fun.

Camp Peak on the left

Real nature

We were back after 8.5 hrs

I didn’t rush, and I enjoyed every minute of it. This nature around me was breathtaking, and I was one of few people today who was actually here, in this part of the world. And, there were 7 billion other humans who were not here. It feels great to be part of minority group.

Kent was picking mountain goat’s poop. “It is even fresh”, Kent said. He was doing it for work purposes, as they were going to extract the goats DNA, to see and compare how far they go, as somehow they were endangered. I didn’t understand that part.

I was back to the tent around 3:50 PM, after more than 8 hours of incredible mountain experience. We even beat the other group for almost 2 hrs  J. But, they were the first to climb it, so all credit goes to them.

Our route to the Camp Peak

This was another great climb and great day.