Unnamed Peak attempt

Unnamed Peak attempt (between Popes Peak and Mount Collier) – July 31, 2004

Mountain height: 3,155 m (10,348 feet)
Roundtrip time: 11:00

Climbing with Mark.

Looks like are technical climbing aspirations are hanging by a very, very, thin thread right now. I could never see myself leading a 5.8 climb, nor ever being a skilled rock climber, but I imagined that easy 5^th class would by within my grasp…apparently I was wrong about even that, as yet another failure on a grade II, 5.4 route now testifies. Nevertheless, the Unnamed Peak between Popes Peak and Mount Collier is in a wonderful location, among some of the bigger and more glaciated peaks in the Canadian Rockies, and we very much enjoyed the trip, even though the summit eluded us.

This was our first time on the Plain of Six Glaciers trail and it’s certainly a worthwhile trip on a clear day. As luck would have it, we got a clear day …that is a cloud free day, however, clouds were replaced by thick smoke from forest fires in B.C., completely obscuring much of the view. Looks like we might be in for a repeat of last year’s “smoke-fest”!

After an easy 5.5 km hike to the teahouse, we started up a somewhat labourious talus slope in between the Unnamed Peakand Mount Whyte . At the top of the slope, we took a rest, admiring some terrific scenery - Mounts Lefroy and Victoria, The Mitre, Aberdeen and Haddo, and of course Whyte, Popes Peak and our goal. A small glacier on Unnamed, with numerous waterfalls spewing forth from it was fantastic.

The main part of the ascent started with a couple of rockbands that were in fact quite avoidable by going around them to the left (which we did on descent). Once past the glacier we started scrambling up the east ridge …at least, we think that was the east ridge ! It certainly looked like the right one when comparing to the picture in the guidebook. The horizontally-oriented terrain was very “steppy” and made for an enjoyable ascent.

Eventually, we came to the first major rockband and here’s where as progress would end. We searched ever single nook and cranny of that rock face, looking for the easiest way up, but each time we started an ascent, it became quite apparent that it was more than 5.4 climbing (or maybe just more than our technical abilities warrant), and we ended up backing down. In total, we spent over 5 hours at that one place, traversing back and forth below the face, looking for a weakness. Once again, we came to the point where we had no choice but to retreat and started down in disappointment. The smoke had begun to clear by then and at least we got to enjoy some of the phenomenal scenery around us.

This failure was not as disappointing as Pinnacle, last week (mainly because of the great scenery) and we still had a great day regardless.