Mount Lady MacDonald
 
July 14, 2003
 
Mountain height: 2605 m
Elevation gain:    1300 m
 
Hiking with Dave and solo scramble to the summit.
 
Unfinished business. In November of 2002 Mark and I had hiked to the false summit of this infamous scramble but wisely chose to forgo the super exposed scramble to the true summit. Time to try again.
 
I convinced a colleague, Dave Graham, to join for the hiking portion of the ascent. After describing the exposure on the final ridge, Dave decided, even before we started, that he would wait for me at the helipad.
 
With beautiful weather, the hike to the defunct teahouse and helipad was wonderfully scenic. At that point, Dave settled in for a relaxing stay in the Sun, while I went for the summit. As described, the ridgewalk/scramble was hair-raising, with nail-biting exposure on both sides. I did not hesitate to bum-shuffle across a few sections! Thankfully, the super exposed parts were short-lived, and I was soon at the top, prematurely patting myself on the back (one should wait until they are down the mountain before that self-aggrandizing act occurs!)
 
Going back across the ridge was slightly easier. I then hurried back to rejoin Dave and we hiked down in great spirits.
 
An awesome day out and definitely the most challenging Kane scramble I’ve completed to date.

Self-timed summit shot



Looking back at the most exposed section



Dave leads the hike back to the start

The End

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