The Coast Range B.C./Mt Bute/Waddington etc.

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harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Nov 22, 2012 - 02:07am PT

No, in our minds, then and now, it wasn't cheating to fly in

I was also dropped off on the Scimitar. I consider that flying into the mountains not onto the mountain. I don't know if they fly people up to the Combatant col but that would make me nervous. If you got caught in a long storm and food was running low,chances are you would have to routefind down to the lower Scimitar in possible whiteout conditions.Starting from the Scimitar means in that situation your just following your wanded ascent route back down.Thanks for posting that historic pic.

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Nov 22, 2012 - 11:21am PT

Carl Diedrich had a pretty funny tale along those lines involving a bear on the Scimitar!

That was a good one. He called it "This ain't the Cascades, Jack!" I published it in the CAJ, and somehow talked Tami into doing some illustration for it. I'll try to dig out the story and put it up on this thread. Anybody know what Carl is up to these days? He actually did a bunch of trips up into the ranges around the Wadd area in the late 80s/early 90s.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 22, 2012 - 06:05pm PT

Dick and I could definitely have used wands in 1964.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 22, 2012 - 07:52pm PT

I bet the Radiant glacier could be a lot of fun in a white out!

Very, very spooky. We were lucky it cleared when it did.

thekidcormier

Gym climber

squamish, b.c.

Nov 22, 2012 - 09:05pm PT

Bahahaha, that story is great!

Bump for some more.

Stoked to see Peter Crofts presentation tonight of the first full mountaineering traverse of the Waddington Range, with Greg Foweraker and Don Serl!!!

MH2

climber

Nov 22, 2012 - 09:18pm PT

Makes Red Bull look like chamomile tea.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 22, 2012 - 09:55pm PT

That's not the buttress you're looking for, folks. Move along, please.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 22, 2012 - 10:00pm PT

Any guesses as to this one? It should be pretty easy.

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Nov 22, 2012 - 10:33pm PT

I dug a little bit to find some spire pics for Harry

And across the way you have this thing

harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Nov 22, 2012 - 11:08pm PT

Preparing for battle in the Radiant. Choss pile in back ground

Is that the bottom of Hickson your talking about Bruce or something else. Thanks Drew it looks like a very cool area and with grizzlies I'm sure.Tami that ws the same year I was in there.I remember having supper in Tatlayoko lake on the way home and Peter was there also. Were you and Barb at that dinner too as I vaguely remember some woman folk.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Nov 23, 2012 - 01:01am PT

My Canuckian bro-in-law is here. I'm totally checking out his suitcase
but after today I'm not hopeful.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 23, 2012 - 03:21am PT

I'm going to go way out on a limb and say Gilbert. That would be the Cleaver up front with the DWMC "Leave it to Cleaver" A melvin Fish / Scott Fulafahl coast range classic. Yep I'm sure of it.

Bruce Kay nails it.

The highest summit of Mt. Gilbert is in the centre of the photo. The 1952 party climbed the broad snow-dome on the left side of the photo but were stopped from continuing from the summit by the black ridge of gendarmes visible in the photo. Some members of this party returned in 1954 and traversed left around the base of the snow dome (left of the field of view of the photo) to reach easy snow slopes on the south side of Gilbert which led to the summit. Both parties camped below the icefall just visible in the extreme bottom-right of the photo.

The two black rock peaks of the Cleaver "cleave" the upper Raleigh Glacier. The higher peak (directly below Gilbert's ridge of gendarmes) has been climbed by trversing up and over the slightly higher snow and rock summit to the left.

The lower peak has been ascended from the Raleigh Glacier by climbing the conspicuous, curving rock rib that leads to the col between the two Cleaver peaks. The north ridge (right hand skyline) was climbed to within a few hundred feet of the summit in 1954.

Photo taken in 1971 from the summit of Mt Raleigh.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 23, 2012 - 03:26am PT

Peter Croft gave a superb talk tonight about the Waddington traverse that he, Don Serl, and Greg Foweraker did in 1985. In my mind, still the best thing that's been done in the Coast Mountains.

harryhotdog

Social climber

north vancouver, B.C.

Nov 23, 2012 - 09:35am PT

Greg, do you have any pics of the traverse? I wonder if you were before or after us on Waddington, I can't remember the exact date but I think it was end of July beginning of August 1985 for us.Were there any tracks on the NW summit?

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 23, 2012 - 12:42pm PT

Yeah, I forgot about the Beckeys' 1942 trip; posting late last night on the high after the PC talk. The Beckey expedition is up there with the Wadd traverse, all right, maybe above it. Many people try the Waddington south face; few succeed.

Another one that's always overlooked is the 1934 trip by the Neave brothers. They approached from the interior and found what's now the regular route up the Bravo Glacier. They missed the chiimney route, but came so close to success on the NE face of the summit tower, all this two years before the first ascent by W&H. The NE face wasn't climbed until 1950 by Al Steck and Phil Bettler, and AFAIK has never been repeated.

They are great epics, all three of them.

Saugy

Mountain climber

Nov 23, 2012 - 10:30pm PT

Mt. Saugstad. The crown jewel of the Coast Range in my humble opinion

The Reverend Christian Saugstad (my great grand-pappy)

And ya, Bruce, its well protected by the foliage..i found that out a time or three

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 24, 2012 - 02:22am PT

Nice photo of Rev Saugstad and his mountain. Photo taken from the east. FA party on Saugstad did it from the west, climbing the main peak and the lower north peak (near right).

Thanks for posting! More photos?

Oplopanax

Mountain climber

The Deep Woods

Nov 24, 2012 - 12:07pm PT

If we're talking "best thing that's been done in the Coast Mountains" the Devils Thumb group complete traverse (Haley/Schaefer), Kobus's Wadd by kayak trip, and the complete S to N traverse from Vancouver to Alaska (Culbert/Edwards/Millar) should also be on the radar.

Comparing Beckey and Beckey to Culbert, Edwards and Millar is really apples and oranges. Not sure which of those two is the "best thing ever done" in the Coast Mountains, but it's one of those two, IMHO.