Eisenhower Peak II
August 23, 2019
Mountain height: 2752 m
Elevation gain: 1300 m
Ascent time: 8:00
Descent time: 5:10
Climbing with Dan.
Clearly, our retreat on Eisenhower Tower before reaching the top, three
days earlier was not sitting well with either of us – especially Dan. He
contacted me the night before and suggested we try again. Of course, I was all in,
even though there was a wee bit of a question mark with the weather forecast.
In
order to ensure we were the first party on the route, we left Calgary
at the wonderful time of 3:30 am. In retrospect this turned out to be
unnecessary, as not only were we the first party on the route, we were
the only
people attempting Eisenhower that day - probably because of the iffy
weather conditions and much colder temperatures than three days
earlier.
Once again Dan led the entire route. I was more than happy to receive a
solid belay from above throughout! We made it up the Dragon’s back with
relative ease and then up to the point where we had retreated, also without too
much ado. From that point, since we were the only ones on the route we chose to
take the original and slightly easier Feuz/Hickson
(from 1926) route via the ridge on the
left. The climbing on the ridge was easy but with some exhilarating exposure.
The last few pitches of the climb definitely had a few more of the crux
moves of route and like the ridge were exhilarating (for me at least), even
with Dan’s generous belay from above. We were both super excited to reach the
summit and took an extended break to celebrate and enjoy the magnificent views,
especially those toward Mirror and Rockbound lakes. The weather wasn’t half as
good as for our first attempt, but that did little to damper our spirits.
Twelve rappels and then and a spirited hike back to the car {simply because
we had succeeded (the hike itself is soul-sucking at the end of a very long day!)} ended a totally awesome
day out. Big shout out to Dan for getting me up another fantastic climbing route!
The Sun rises on Storm Mountain
Back at the scene of the crime
Here we go
The weather was surprisingly good for the first part of the day
Dan is up there somewhere
Looking around from one of the belay stations
Looking up at the gully used for descent (not the same as the ascent route)
The summit of Castle Mountain near the right
Lots of cool, unnamed stuff to the northeast and the East Peak Of Helena Ridge in the foreground
The upper pitches of the route
Dan gets a photo of me on the last pitch - that's why I'm so happy. Too bad either my helmet or my head is crooked! (photo by Dan)
Easy hike to the summit cairn (photo by Dan)
Hero of the day
Follower of the day (photo by Dan)
Hiking a short distance north granted us fantastic views over the Castle Mountain massif
The highlight of the view - Rockbound and Mirror lakes
A vast chasm separates Eisenhower from the Castle massif
Last look at Rockbound Lake - easy to see how the lake was named
Pilot Mountain on the left and Mount Assiniboine at the distant right
Glaciated Mount Ball
Also glaciated (but not seen from this angle) Mount Temple
Views to the northeast
And more
The summit of Helena Ridge (right) and Pulsatilla Mountain to the left
Rappel time
Looking down to where we need to be. The Dragon's Back is very obvious from this point.
My turn to rappel. Glad my helmet or head straightened out(photo by Dan)
Looking up one of the rappel lines. This one is different than the ascent line.
Getting closer to the bottom
Off rappel! All done and hiking back to the base of the Dragon
Looking up the route that requires 12 rappels to descend
Parting look at Eisenhower
And back to the trail
The End
