Mount Head II

Mount Head – November 12, 2005

Mountain height:       2,782 m (9,128 ft)
Elevation gain:          approx. 1,500 m (includes elevation loss from Grass Pass)
Ascent time:              7:30
Descent time:            6:15

Scrambling with Mark.

A second attempt at the northerly neighbour of Holy Cross Mountain in as many weeks, and we made two routes changes to improve our chances of reaching the summit: 1. on approach, we used the Grass Pass Trail, instead of the Gunnery Creek Trail and didn’t attempt any bushwhacking shortcuts; 2. we ascended the first weakness in the upper rockband, instead of searching for something easier – a decision that, last week, cost as 2 hours of time and therefore the summit.

We stole the “Grass Pass” idea from Sonny Bou, who completed the ascent this past May. The hike to the drainage was easy, though we weren’t too impressed with the overcast sky and snowy conditions. Instead of following the creek west, we crossed it and gained the lower section of the Mount Head’s east ridge immediately. By the time we were at the start of the scramble, we had already made up more than an hour of time, compared with last week’s attempt and were optimistic about having an easy and successful ascent. In addition, much like the previous day’s foray up Mount Ware, the morning clouds gave way to beautifully clear skies, dramatically enhancing the terrific scenery on the mountain.

After roping up, to belay each other across a snowy and mildly exposed ledge, we arrived at the aforementioned weakness in the upper rockband and started up the 5 metre step. It proved to be far more challenging than expected and required the placement of 2 of the 4 cams we had brought with us and the use of a very fortuitously placed tree branch hanging over the top of the step. I wish I could say that I ascended the step with grace, finesse, and nerves of steel, however, near the top, while hanging on to the branch, my right foot slipped off the rockface and I started shrieking like a co-ed in a “B mad-slasher movie” – lucky Reinhold wasn’t there to witness that!

Once atop the step (and fully recovered from my little panic attack), we continued up the easy, but very long east ridge. The next third of the ascent was little more than steep hiking, however, what it lacked in challenge, it more than made up for in stunning wintery scenery: numerous shapely highpoints along the ridge, a host of snow-covered and impressive peaks to the north, and enormous plumes of snow, blowing violently off the summits and ridges of Head and Holy Cross. Needless to say, the high winds that caused the blowing snow also made the rest of the ascent bone-chillingly cold. We stayed on the ridge for as long as possible, however, fatigue, from the previous day’s ascent off Mount Ware (humbled by a 2,124 m peak?!), and the unfortunate shortage of daylight in mid-November, prompted us to bypass a couple of highpoints along the way.

The upper third of the route was made more challenging by icy, hardened snow, requiring numerous elevation losses and considerable route-finding to negotiate the tricky terrain. We arrive at the summit at 3:30 pm to a spectacular view: the Continental Divide peaks to the west were shrouded in clouds, while to the north the many unnamed peaks of the Highwood Range bathed in sunlight. Of course, Holy Cross Mountain and the knife-edge ridge, connecting it to Mount Head, were a source of intense study – definitely a summer project, however.

With only 2 hours of daylight remaining, we were left with a dilemma, regarding descent routes. Returning the same way we came, would have been very long, slow and tedious on the icy terrain, and so we opted to go out on a limb and try to descend one of the many gullies of the west-facing slopes and then follow Stony Creek out to Highway 541, leaving us approximately 3 km from the car. With a little route-finding luck (many of the gullies led to significant drop-offs, but we found one that was steep, but manageable and led directly down to the easy terrain of the lower bowl), we made it down to the creek in about 1.25 hours, took a short break and the headlamps out of our backpacks, and started, what we thought was going to be, the easy part of the descent. GPS revealed that, in a straight line, we were 5.2 km from the highway. Given the circuitous nature of creeks, we made a conservative prediction of 1.5-2 hours to make it there. It ended up taking us 4 hours of painstakingly slow travel: climbing over deadfall, innumerable crossings of the creek, side-sloping steep terrain, nasty bushwhacking, ascending when we should have been descending; and all of it by headlamp. You’d think that after Dungarvan and Glendowan last month, we’d be expert at following creeks out in the dark! We staggered back to the car at 9:55 pm – 5 minutes short of a 14 hour day. Not the epic descent of our Joffre attempt, earlier this year, or our first and failed attempt on Lorette, but, hands down, one of our most miserable return trips.

Overall, a fantastic day, on a most interesting mountain, with amazing scenery – hopefully, selective memory will take care of the less than enjoyable descent.

Looking up at the first cliffbands

Mark ascends the weakness in the first band

Ascending the crux; this is where I slipped, while hanging onto a tree branch; contrary to its appearance in the photo, this 5 m rockstep is almost vertical