Mount Carnarvon – July 23, 2004

Mountain height:     3,040 m (9,971 feet)
Elevation gain:        1,735 m
Ascent time:            5:40
Descent time:          3:30

Scrambling with Mark.

Except for the seemingly endless and dull hike to Hamilton Lake, Mount Carnarvon was a pretty terrific scramble. After hiking 5.5 km we stopped at very scenic Hamilton Lake to rest and take pictures. Unfortunately, a very large and obstinate cloud sat over the mountain and lake and even after waiting for 30 minutes, the cloud still had not budged.

We took the remainder of the ascent at a fairly leisurely pace, hoping that the sky would clear completely, as predicted by the forecast. Higher up, the hands-on scrambling was very nice. Unfortunately, we had a severe lapse of judgment in estimating the length of the upper part of the mountain. We came to what we thought was the “75 to 100 m traverse”  in Kane’s description, not realizing that it was much, much higher up. When we finally reached the summit (?), we were quite surprised to find out that we were still quite a distance from the true summit. The route-finding near the top was a little tricky, as the summit was quite far over to the left. Nevertheless, there were plenty of cairns to follow. Overall, I would have to rate the scramble as moderate, not difficult.

At Hamilton Lake, with Mount Carnarvon at the left and Emerald Peak to the right

Hamilton Lake and Carnarvon above

Ascending shale slopes towards the ridge

On the ridge, with the first part of the ascent in the shade

This is what we mistakenly thought was the 75-100 m traverse - it's not!

After summitting the above rockband, we were surprised to find this - still a long way from the top!

Approaching the real traverse that goes to the left of this rockband (this still isn't the summit)

Mark, almost at the true summit

At the summit, finally!

A great view to the north