Mount Arethusa II

Mount Arethusa II – August 18, 2004

Mountain height:     2,912 m (9,554 feet)
Elevation gain:         750 m
Ascent time:              5:55
Descent time:            3:00

Scrambling with Linda Breton.

Ever since our first experience on Mount Arethusa (Mark and I), on November 30 of 2002, I’ve wanted to return to complete the last part of the ascent. Mark and I failed to reach the summit by a very short distance, when the downclimb section, right before the summit, was choked with snow and ice. Nevertheless, it was a stunningly beautiful, winter day and the scenery was spectacular.

Linda and I (our second scramble in three days), weren’t lucky enough to get the perfect weather conditions, however, after the first four hours, which we spent in pretty much whiteout type conditions, we were very lucky to see any decent views at all. We started, this time, on the left side of the creek, and made our way to the Arethusa Cirque. Along the way we had to stop several times to photograph some beautiful stream scenery. The low-lying clouds and mist also made the surroundings quite mysterious and atmospheric. At first, we quite enjoyed this, however, three hours later when the clouds had not budged an inch, I for one was not a happy camper (given that the forecast was “mainly sunny”).

Once again, I have to give Linda credit for her incredible perseverance and tenacity in continuing on even though she was experiencing considerable knee pain and discomfort. I’m quite sure I would have quit the trip about 5 minutes in. Upon reaching Arethusa’s narrow and scenic ridge, we again found ourselves with very limited visibility due to the clouds – a little frustrating since I knew what a beautiful ridge this is. We stayed on the ridge as much as possible, including downclimbing a somewhat exposed chimney. As it turns out, this was the crux of the trip.

Further along the very enjoyable ridge, the clouds started to clear, revealing Arethusa’s outstanding surroundings. Upon reaching the 5 m downclimb that halted our progress two years ago, I madly began searching for the easiest way down. Luckily, Linda was there and spotted an easy way to avoid the downclimb by traversing a ledge along the west side of the mountain. I thought that the ledge looked too narrow and exposed, however, I went down to try it and it was, in fact, quite easy with only one or two exposed moves. Linda followed and we continued easily on to the top. It was a very satisfying summit for both of us, as it was Linda’s first “difficult” rated scramble, and I was happy to complete the last 50 m that eluded Mark and me in November of 2002.

In light of some not-so favourable reviews of the alternate descent route, we decided to return the same way we came, except we cut down scree slopes on the west side, instead of going all the way to the south end of the ridge and then descending that way. This descent was fairly easy and straightforward and by the time we made it down to the cirque, the skies had cleared quite a bit and we were rewarded with some outstanding scenery of meadow, stream, and mountain. Overall, another terrific day with a wonderful scrambling partner (not that Mark isn’t!!!!)