Table Top II
Whistable II
July 1, 2018
Mountain heights: 2270 m and 2280 m
Elevation gain: approximately
1000 m
Ascent time: 2:40
Descent time: 2:15
Solo scramble.
Unfinished business. In a slew of
separate trips, I had reached all the highpoints of the Table Mountain/Whistler
Mountain massif and traversed all but one of the ridges between those
highpoints – it was time to fit that final piece into the puzzle. The traverse,
from Table Top Peak to what is now referred to as Whistable Peak I, covers
less than 1.5 kilometres of terrain, however, give me any excuse to be on any
part of this mountain and I will use it! It’s simply a terrific massif with so
many possible ascents lines and traverses.
I chose the Table Mountain Trail
route, but skipped an ascent of Table Mountain – it’s quite a diversion –
instead going directly to Table Top Peak. The more
direct route to that summit involved a great deal of ups and downs and some
route-finding. In short, going to the top of the high point west of Table would
have been much easier in the long run.
After a short, but mildly nostalgic summit
stay (as nostalgic as something that only occurred six months previous can
be!), I embarked on the elusive
traverse to Whistable I. It turned out to
be easy, fun and of course super scenic - everything I’ve come to love about
The Castle.
Again, my summit stay was relatively short, as
I had already decided to try an alternate descent route. This route involved
returning to Table Top, traversing the ridge northwest of the summit and then
dropping down the east side of the ridge and hopefully route-finding my way
back to the Table Mountain Trail. Vern had done a similar route on ascent but
had come up the west side of the ridge.
Without going into all the gory details the
ridge was amazing - great rock, interesting terrain, and beautiful views.
Eventually it was time to leave the ridge and I fortuitously found an awesome route
down. Great scree surfing into a drainage preceded a very interesting descent
down that drainage. I serendipitously left the drainage onto another scree
slope just before getting cliffed out. At the bottom of the drainage, clambering back up to the
official trail was also easy and in no time the parking lot was reached.
An excellent day out, although I’m a little
sad that there are no more ridges for me to traverse on this massif. Of course
that fact is highly unlikely to prevent me from returning to this most satisfying
of mountains!
On the terrific Table Mountain Trail. The descent route I took comes down from the right.
Part of the descent route
Looking over to the now "photo op" famous western plateau of Table Mountain
Shortcut route to Table Top (right) that didn't turn out to be much of a shortcut
Table Top Peak. The intervening forest is generally light and easy to get through.
Looking back to Table Mountain
Second time at the summit of Table Top
The route to Whistable I is very obvious
Here we go
Typical terrain along the traverse
Looking over to Whistler Mountain
The highlight of the traverse was definitely looking back along to ridge to Table Top
Gladstone, Larry Mountain, and Castle Peak to the south
The ridge again!
The other highpoints of Whistable are easily reached
Whistler Mountain and Whistler Lookout
More photos of the wonderful ridge back to Table Top
Near the summit of Table Top where the alternate descent route starts (left)
The goal is to make it down into the valley below Table Mountain
The ridge here is easy and fun
Until you arrive at the huge drop-off that is easily bypassed via this gully
The dark rock of the ridge is a nice contrast to the lighter colours around it
Aiming for the second bump on the ridge (right)
The second bump
Looking back up the ridge
There is a cairn on the second bump. From here I went down and to the right, into the valley below.
Looking back up to the second bump from the Table Mountain Trail
Nice to be back on that trail to end the day
The second bump and route down again
Looking up the route Linda Breton and I used to ascent Table Mountain back in 2005
The End
