Narao Peak attempt II

Narao Peak attempt II

March 28, 2004

Mountain height:    2,974 m
Elevation gain:       1,380 m (we came up approx. 100 vertical metres short)
Ascent time:            8:00
Descent time:         4:40

Snowshoeing, scrambling, and mountaineering with Mark.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one – some intense and unnerving scrambling up steep, snow-covered rockbands, the outstanding scenery and perfect weather, our outrageous 8 hour ascent time, the fabulous scenery, ascending snowy terrain we couldn’t possibly downclimb, standing at the last false summit at 5:20 pm (realizing that we had only 1.5 hours of sunlight to descend), an almost disastrous rappel when the anchor didn’t hold, the breath-taking scenery, doing the last 3 hours of the decent in darkness, or some of the best scenery around?? ….looks like when all is said and done, the scenery is the big winner of the day!

After our failed attempt two weeks earlier, we decided to wait for a good weather day and try again. The scenery throughout the trip was simply too outstanding to pass up another shot at the summit. The first couple of hours were uneventful, though as long and grueling as the previous attempt. The trail had been covered in the fresh layer of snow and so, for the most part, we made our own tracks through the trees and up to the treeline. We ditched our snowshoes here and started up the rubble slope to the ridge. The weather was cloudy throughout and it wasn’t until we had made it to our previous highpoint that the skies cleared and, once again, we were treated to Narao’s magnificent panorama. We left our backpacks here and started up.

The fun started right away, as we ascended the first rockband, up a snow gully. It took us about 10 minutes just to hack away enough snow and ice to get up. At the top, we made our way easily to the second and most challenging rockband. Here, we had no options, but to ascend the rockband head-on where there was the least amount of snow. Even then, the terrain had a fair amount of snow on it and was steep to the point that downclimbing it was not a possibility. We were roped up and so upon finding a decent ledge, about halfway up, I belayed Mark up to that point. Here, snow plastered on the steep walls, prevented us from going any further and we were forced to ascend a very steep rockface right on the edge of the ridge. A slip here would have resulted in a fall of over 300 metres. Thankfully, the ascent was short and soon I was onto easier terrain.

The next rockband was likewise very steep, but only half the height. We could now see the false summit with the true summit behind. It was approaching 5 pm at this point and descending a good portion of the mountain in the dark was a forgone conclusion. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint) the scenery was so incredible, we simply couldn’t stop. Just after 5 pm, exactly 8 hours after leaving the car, we made it to the double-cairned false summit. As expected, the view of the north face of Mount Victoria was fantastic. Also visible, were The Goodsirs, and innumerable, notable peaks of the Waputik and Wapta Icefields.

We started the long descent at 5:20 pm. That gave us about 1 hour, 40 minutes of decent daylight. At the top of the first rockband, we set up a rappel off what we thought was a solid rock. I went down and Mark followed, however, somehow a knot had formed in the rope and we weren’t able to pull it down. Mark had to re-ascend the rockband, untie the knot, and then rappel down again. As he rappelled, numerous large rocks were dislodged from the crumbly terrain and I spent a few solid minutes of dodging and ducking some dangerous rockfall. Mark was almost at the bottom when the anchor gave way, sending Mark flying down into a snowdrift at the bottom and a huge number of large rocks hurling down on us. Fortunately, none of the big ones hit us and although I took 4 or 5 off my head (actually my helmet!), they were too small to be of consequence.

That incident left us a little shaken, but there was no time to stop and recover. The simple rappel had taken half an hour and we had to keep moving. The second rappel was thankfully not the ordeal the first one was. We were able to rappel down easier snow-covered terrain, as opposed to our ascent route right along the edge of the ridge. Unfortunately, our 50 m rope was not enough to get us to the bottom and we had to set-up a second rappel halfway down (we’ll have to return in the summer to retrieve the three slings we left up there). After that, it was an easy trek back to our backpacks.

By the time we recovered our backpacks, the sun had set and we started down in increasing darkness. The challenge was going to be finding our snowshoes, some 5 or 6 hundred metres down the slope. Fortunately, we were able to find our ascent tracks in the snow and they led us to the snowshoes. With all the difficult terrain behind us, we were more than a little relieved! Of course, it was now almost completely dark and we still had to get down the long slope through the trees. I had my headlamp, but it was still a little tricky in places and both of us took a several spills. We arrived back at the car, completely exhausted, at 10 pm – 13 hours after leaving. Definitely, our most intense day out so far, but once again, the phenomenal scenery made it all worthwhile – I love the mountains!