The Blade attempt
– August
14, 2011
Roundtrip
time: 9:30
Scrambling
and a little climbing with Kevin.
Although
Kevin and I did have hopes of completing this infrequently ascended
outlier of
the more popular Mount Blane as a day trip, those dreams faded fairly
early in
the day, whereupon the reminder of the trip became more of a
reconnaissance
mission.
While
other peaks of the Opal Range consist of steep scrambles to the col and
then
difficult scrambling or easy climbing to the summit, this is not so
with The
Blade. Getting to the col itself requires trad climbing at a 5.7 level
and from
there severely exposed 5.7 climbing to the summit. And to get to the
5.7
section that leads to the col can also be very challenging, as Kevin
and I
found out.
After
hiking up King Creek and then following the south fork for a short
distance, we
started up what we hoped was the correct ascent slope. It probably was,
although other routes certainly looked feasible. However regardless of
the
specific route, it became quite clear that this ascent to an Opal Range
peak
col was far more challenging than its neighbours. The terrain was quite
steep
and exposed in a few sections. As well, several of the ascent gullies
were
choked with rock-hard snow, forcing us to bring out the rope long before
we
arrived at the real climbing.
We
continued
up to a point near the climbing, but wisely decided to call it a day
there. Continuing
would have almost guaranteed an epic and personally I wasn’t in the
mood (I’m
sure Kevin wasn’t either!).
A
good day of exploration and no day in the magnificent Opal Range is
ever a wasted
day.
