Princess Margaret Mountain II

Princess Margaret Mountain II – April 6, 2008

Mountain height:         2575 m
Elevation gain:            1200 m
Ascent time:                5:45
Descent time:              4:15

Scrambling and a little mountaineering with Mark and Raff.

Climbing the same mountain in opposing seasons (summer and winter) is often as good as climbing two completely different mountains. The experience can be a totally unique one even though you reach the same goal. That certainly was the case for my second trip up Princess Margaret Mountain, the first ascent completed with Kevin Barton, approximately 6 months earlier. Raff suggested the trip, since Frank and Vitto had recently done an ascent via the same route. The ascent route that Kevin and I took in the summer involved some steep, hands-on scrambling and was not an option because of snow on the ridge.

The day’s route involved going up a stream to the base of a gully and then heading up the gully to the ridge. Since the stream was frozen, it was a breeze to ascend with crampons – a far different experience than the challenging and circuitous descent Kevin and I had undertaken. There were a couple of sections where an ice tool would have come in handy, but we found other ways around these parts (and some less than orthodox ways to get down them for the return trip).

We overshot the ascent gully and became a little disoriented as to its location. Fortunately, after backing up a short distance, and ascending “a” gully for a while, we realized this was the same gully Kevin and I had used for descent. Though quite long, ascending this gully was very enjoyable. The snow was perfect for crampons and the scenery very pleasant. Only the gloomy weather provided a source of discouragement and a few choice adjectives.

The weather did clear a little as we gained the ridge, yielding some pretty stunning winter-like scenery. We soon reached the short, but vertical drop before the summit block. Though it is possible to bypass this step via an exposed downclimb on the north side of the ridge (as Kevin and I had done), snow rendered this route suicidal and so we rappelled down the step. Thinking it would be easy to “Batman” up the rope on return, we paid little attention to setting up the system for a top-rope belay.

The final push to the summit was not terribly difficult, but the snow cover added a little challenge, when compared to a snow-free ascent. We went quite slowly in several sections, where a slip down either side would have been very bad. The summit view was decent, given the off and on weather. Once again, snow on the surroundings peaks brought everything to life.

Getting down the summit block was quite easy, but getting back up the vertical rockband where we had left the rope was a “gong show”. Approximately 6 weeks earlier, Mark had “Batmaned” up what I thought was a more difficult rockband on Morrowshaw Peak. Since Kevin and I had upclimbed this band without a rope (Kevin with considerable more ease than I!) in the summer, I didn’t think for a second we would encounter any problems. Without giving a play-by-play, it took almost an hour to get all three of us atop the short step. Raff was able to get up first using a prussik on the rope, Mark followed with a top-rope belay and I was lucky enough to have a double rope belay. I’m used to saying “Mark, pull me up!”, but it was a special treat to get to say, “Mark and Raff, pull me up!!”

Descending the snow-filled gully was another treat – fast and effortless. The frozen creek was a little tricky in places, but also very enjoyable. An entertaining return to a terrific little mountain.