Narao Peak III

Narao Peak

May 1, 2004

Mountain height:                                                            2,974 m (9,757 ft)
Elevation gain:                                                               1,380 m
Ascent time to summit:                                                   6:25
Roundtrip time to second summit (marginally lower):     approx. 30 minutes
Descent time:                                                                 6:50
Roundtrip time:                                                              14:50

Scrambling, mountaineering, and snowshoeing with Mark.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times......"

(A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 1859)

Charles Dickens was not exactly referring to an ascent of Narao Peak, but the quote certainly best describes our third (in as many months) and successful trip to Narao Peak's summit. Like our second attempt, on March 28, 2004, this 15-hour day had its fair share of joyous moments and an equal number of desperate and sobering ones. And also, like both previous attempts, the scenery was unparalleled, and not a single iota less-breathtaking, even though we had seen it twice before.

We were hoping that much of the snow from the parking lot to the treeline would have melted, making that part of the ascent easier. Unfortunately, that was not the case and it still took us 3 hours to make it up to the ridge. However, the snow, in the early morning, was quite firm and we were ascended with relative ease…..compared to our descent down the same slope, anyway (more to come…..).

So as not to repeat details of the ascent covered in our previous descriptions, I’ll skip to the crux. Last time, we ascended the crux rock step head-on, up steep and snow-covered terrain. This time, we opted to traverse steep snow slopes to the right and go around the rockband. In retrospect, staying on the ridge was considerably faster, though it did require a rappel to descend. The traverse was time-consuming and required great caution and patience setting up good belays. Anyone who has seen this slope knows that a slip here would probably result in serious injuries. Fortunately, there were a few rocks protruding from the deep snow and we were able to set up 4 good sling belays across the slope. Unfortunately, this was also the scene of the day’s first incident, when one of us stepped on the rope with our crampons, severing it completely in one place and half way through in another – a couple of makeshift knots and we continued on. Coincidentally, we were discussing retiring that rope on the way to the mountain….looks like that decision has been made!

The remainder of the ascent, under perfectly clear skies once again, was easy and uneventful. 6 and half hours after leaving the car, we topped out on a summit and boasts a panorama that is second-to-none. After signing the register and taking a ton of photos, we continued on to a second, slight lower summit, about 15 minutes away. The view from there was only slightly different, but it was worth the effort and having taken three tries to summit, we wanted to enjoy as much of the mountain as we could.

The descent was hands down our most nightmarish to date (far surpassing last week’s epic descent on Mount Lorette), but surprisingly the nightmare occurred on the section you would least expect. We left the summit at 5:05 pm and with at least two more hours of daylight than the March 28 attempt, we didn’t anticipate having to do much, if any, of the descent in the dark. Wrong again, as our 11:55 pm completion time would attest!

We returned the same way, again traversing the steep, snow slopes slowly and cautiously. Rappelling down the rockband, as we did last time, would have been a great deal faster, but with our rope in its “3-piece” present condition, this was not an option. The problems started when we wasted about an hour trying to locate our snowshoes, which we had left on a slope, just above the treeline. Upon finding them, we put them on and started down. Unfortunately, the daytime heat had softened the deep snow significantly, and even with snowshoes we were sinking, sometimes up to our waists, in the snow. It was also the wet type of snow that sets like concrete around anything that sinks into it, making travel extremely slow, laborious, and requiring great amounts of energy. To make matters worse, one of my gaiters broke and with each step snow would be forced into my boot. Within 10 minutes, my entire right foot was in block of ice and I became concerned that it would suffer permanent damage with extended time in this condition. Mark, eventually, had similar concerns of his own.

We tried every conceivable method of descent to speed up the process – snowshoes, no snowshoes, glissading (a lousy day to leave out Crazy Carpets in the car), crawling – nothing worked. From the treeline, it took us a solid 2 hours of painstaking travel to finally get back to the car and I have never been so relieved to see that big hunk of metal.

Overall, a thoroughly outstanding and miserable day, all rolled into one - that's the mountains!