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Summit Log for East Wendell
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Posted by: |
reastick |
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Route: |
West Scree Slopes |
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Outcome: |
Summited |
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Ascent Date: |
Saturday, April 12, 2008 |
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Rating: |
4 |
Return to East Wendell
Last year about this time we headed into CMC valley to scramble Mount Wendell. This year it was East Wendell. Is this now a tradition?
Although this little peak is in Nugara's new guidebook, and although the majority of the route is south-facing and sun-baked, we figured we'd have the place to ourselves. Who else would want to gain all that elevation on the Yamnuska shoulder, only to lose it again before the scramble starts?
Chris has been taunted lately by Association Peak, so we thought we'd scout the cutline route over the shoulder, as this is what we'd take for Association, were we to try for that. No problems heading up the shoulder, but the north side was kind of snowy. No need for snowshoes, but if things warmed up later in the day, returning this way would be soupy.
When we hit the bottom of CMC Valley, things had warmed enough that it was time for snowshoes. We ambled up the creek until we thought the north slopes were clear enough and we could get back into the sun. CMC Wall to the north looked forbidding, and we planned to skirt below it on the way back for fun. As we were checking it out, we caught glimpse of somebody already up at the pinnacles. Wait, there's two people. No, three. Actually, it is eight. Eight others out here, this early in the season? Crazy.
Eventually we turned the corner to the west scree slopes and scouted the route. Had we not known that there was a route up here, I'm not sure we would have given it a go. Hats off to the person who found the way through the cliff bands up there.
There's nothing like Front Range scree, and this slope was no less steep than any other. Fortunately, there was just enough soft snow in places that we could kick steps and motor up relatively efficiently. The break in the cliffs became more obvious as we approached, and getting through it was fun. Once we broke through the cliffs, the final ridgewalk to the summit presented itself.
We were under the impression that this part was just a hike on rolling scree, but it wasn't. There was enough definition to the ridge that it was airy enough to make the trip worthwhile. The snow on the ridge really made it look neat, too.
Just short of the summit we ran into Wietse and Keith. I recognized Wietse's name from the rmbooks forum. They were up there with Vern (another name I recognized), who was still on the summit. Vern appeared to be checking out where the other five on the mountain today might be trying to come up. They had gone for the difficult route, and it certainly looked difficult. We never saw whether the summited or bailed.
Vern, Chris, and I played Name That Summit for a bit, and then we dropped back off to have a snack in the warm sun. In the short time we were on the summit, we could already see the snow was loosening up quite a bit.
We trended along below CMC Wall on the way out, mostly because we wanted to avoid the snow in the valley. Nugara's right, however: It is a scenic route. Eventually we had to drop back down, and put on the snowshoes to get back up the shoulder.