Wasootch Peak 4

Wasootch Peak IV

July 27, 2017

Mountain height: 2352 m
Elevation gain:    900 m
Ascent time:        2:45
Descent time:     2:30

Solo scramble.

The objective of my 4^th trip up Wasootch Peak was to see if there was a decent route up the mountain from the northwest side. Years ago Mark and I had completed a very interesting route from Wasootch Creek parking lot (northeast) and recently we had done the first part of this new route on a failed ascent of Greg Cornell’s 5.6 climbing route, “Ivana Humpaless”.

Initially I wanted to see if the actual northwest ridge would work, however, I found the terrain and rock in the drainage to be so interesting that staying in the drainage seemed like a great idea and it was. Upon gaining the ridge I completed the ascent via the east ridge, as Mark and I had done years ago.

After admiring the slightly hazy but always satisfying summit view, I decided to attempt to downclimb the northwest ridge – perhaps an illogical decision given that upclimbing is always easier than downclimbing, but retreating back up the way came was an option. The most surprising feature of this descent route was the amazing quality of the rock, making the downclimbing that much easier and enjoyable. There were a couple of difficult spots, route-finding challenges and some gritty exposure for one step, but in general the descent was very enjoyable.

At treeline, I simply continued down the ridge, hoping to find a reasonable route through the thick forest. A few animal trails helped along the way, but I found it to be a tedious, if direct route back to the start.

A surprisingly enjoyable day and interesting route up an old favourite.