Mountain height: 2476 m
Elevation gain: 1100
m
Ascent time: 7:25
Descent time: 4:15
Mountaineering with Mark.
As much as I’m comfortable and content to name an unnamed peak “Unnamed at GR_____”, this one deserved a title and Suicide Peak was the first thing that came to mind.
We were actually on our way to make a third attempt at
The Three Sisters in early morning
The view of our objective from the creek
After a pleasant jaunt up a lightly treed slope,
highlighted by a unique view of The Three Sisters, we arrived at a scenic
rockband barring the way. Ascending alongside the rockband we found a weakness
and Mark started up. After hogging all the climbing time on
The Three Sisters from the ascent slopes
Mark starts up the first of several rockbands to the ridge
Interesting rock scenery
Same as abvoe
A close-up the the above rock face
It was then time to gain the ridge and again Mark led the
ascent and then pulled up me. The ridge was spectacular – narrow at times and
leading to a stunning pinnacle of rock that reminded us a little of
Mark looks for a weakness in the next rockband
Mark ascends the rockband
Same as above
Searching for a route up to the ridge
On the ridge
The impressive pinnacle
More terrific rock scenery followed. Eventually the scree gave way to snow – a far more pleasant way to ascend. The snow slog that followed was long, but again the scenery was magnificent under a perfectly blue sky. We finally topped out on the ridge, just northeast of the pinnacle. Initially we thought the pinnacle might be the highest point of the ridge but quickly discovered it was not even close. There was at least one point to the north that was higher. A serrated and very interesting ridge separated us from that summit.
Onto the snow
The long, but scenic snow ascent
Same as above
Same as above
At the top of the snow slope with our new objective in the centre
The traverse towards the highpoint to the north was perhaps the highlight of the trip. At first it was easy, but soon Mark was forced to traverse a narrow and exposed section, with a small gap in the middle. Here, the rock was horribly loose and at one point I watched in horror as a huge rock that Mark was using to haul himself across the gap crumbled underneath him. Luckily he was able to quickly scramble up and over the gap.
Starting the ridge traverse
More cool rock scenery
More snow and cool rock
Mark ascends alongside a distinctive rockband
The view to the southwest; the small peak in the distance to the left of Rimwall (centre) is Mount Sir Douglas
Getting ready to traverse the gap in the exposed ridge
Looking a little tentative before stepping over the gap
From there another thoroughly enjoyable ridge traverse ensued, although as we approached our intended summit, another higher summit suddenly appeared. That one was again beyond our skill level and so we agreed to make a stab at the summit we were heading for and then go home. All was going well until we reached the final rockband. This rockband was not terribly high (maybe 8 or so metres), but it was steep, exposed, extremely loose and there were no significant hand or foot holds. Mark stepped up to the plate for the umpteenth time on the trip and started up the band. He was able to place some protection, but it was far from “bomber”. Soon, he was past the point of no return – downclimbing was not possible and there was nowhere to place anything to rappel off. There was no choice but to continue up. In a couple of tricky and adrenaline induced moves Mark was able to haul himself onto the summit, where he breathed a momentous sigh of relief.
Our objective to the left and the higher summit to the right
Starting leading more of the ridge traverse
Mark looks at the north summit just before his hair-raising ascent of our objective
Another look at the shapely north summit
Mark heads up to the final rockband
I had absolutely no intention of climbing that band and so I told Mark I would “Batman” up the rope. Even this was tricky as I slipped several times to find myself dangling on the end of the rope. I was severely impressed that Mark had climbed up it without solid protection. During my ascent of the band I definitely broke my personal record for screaming, “Pull me up Mark!” I would probably classify that seemingly innocuous step as the most difficult piece of climbing either Mark or I had ever done.
Mark at the summit
Me at the summit
Getting ready to rappel the summit block; though it may not look like much from this vantage point, the rockband was steep, loose and exposed
The summit view was excellent, especially that of the
higher summit to the north. A clear sky and fresh layer of snow made it seem
more Himalayan than it actually was. We returned the same we came, having a
pretty easy go of it after rappelling the summit block. On the long hike back to
the car, reflecting on the seriousness of that final step to the summit and a
couple of other dire moments on the way, we decided that
Looking back to Suicide Peak (centre); the north summit can be seen at the left
The northeast side of Grottto Mountain
The Three Sisters yet again