Carrying everything on your own back.
This summer I was at the Catamount Glacier in the Purcell mountains south of Golden for two different trips. The contrast between the two weeks demonstrated to me the breadth of our sport, and vividly highlighted the utility of using the right approach for the right objective.
Basecamp Style:
The first week was a Rab Canada sponsored alpine camp where we rock climbed and camped in comfort. As we had a number of guests, athletes, and friends going for a week, we carried outsized loads in and plunked them at snowline on a campsite of smooth rolling granitic slabs at 2500 meters. We each had a stylish and spacious Latok Mountain Tent , lots of food and all of the technical climbing equipment we could use for the rarely-visited rock routes the spires in this area have to offer.
As Rab is aiming to do its best to eliminate CO2 in their production we ixnayed the “Canadian telepherique” (read helicopter, thanks for the expression Mark Klassen) and decided to use the same funds to pay three local friends a reasonable day-wage to hike all of the food, tents, ropes, double racks into camp. It was 5 1/2 kilometers and 750 meters to camp, coincidentally right about the same as a hike to Applebee camp in the Bugaboos.
Madeleine Martin-Preney impressively rope-gunning the South-west ridge of Mount Harmon.
The thing with cragging from a basecamp is that you want to bring enough of a rack and rope to be able to climb technical rock routes like on offer here, on Mount Harmon, and below on Scotch Peak #2. What makes the Catamount a really cool basecamp location is that in addition to alpine rock cragging there are also 3 3000 meter moderate alpine peaks on offer at the end of the valleys.
Megan Cramb enjoying some splitter granite on the imaginatively named Scotch Peak #2. That's how few people seem to go in here, they haven't even come up with separate names for the mountains:)
Don’t find anything on the internet when you search for rock climbing at the Catamount? That’s the advantage of being local and getting out walk-about, we can find out about the secret spots that haven’t hit the headlines yet. Under 20 kilometers south-east of the world famous Bugaboos, I didn’t see anyone I hadn’t walked in with at the Catamount during my 12 days there this summer. That is a far cry from Applebee!
Applebee is a great place to socialize, not such a great place if you don't climb 5.10 cracks.
As sparse as the campers might be, the alpine cragging on the Catamount is not that different from the smaller towers that surrounds Applebee., though there is definitely no East Face of Snowpatch! One thing with the Bugs is that if you don’t climb 5.10 cracks proficiently there isn’t really a lot to do other than join the crowds on the 5 mega-classics that you can actually climb. I heard tell of 25 parties lining up for the Becky-Chouinard this summer. I mean it is an amazing route, I have climbed it a couple of times and look forward to sneaking in there some time before the crowds figure out it is in condition for the season…. Check out the similarity between the Crescent Towers (in the background above) and the one tower we spent the most days climbing on in the photo below.
Jonathan Lytton and Lawrence Quang surveying some of the granitic ridges of the Scotch Peaks basin with Mount Harmon in the background.
Lightweight Style
John and Christina with the Welsh Lakes to the east and the North Star glacier to the west.
Christina and John were my first clients when I got into guiding about 5 years ago. We have had some great adventures together since then so I wasn’t too surprised when Christina proposed that rather than basecamp in the Catamount drainage we instead traverse three valleys in the area. I am not sure if she had seen this trip report or had used her map-reading skill to dream it up. This kind of light alpinism is right up her alley, as she is a very experienced and active backcountry hiker from the rugged west coast of BC. And John has an amazing serve I hear:) Just kidding John, you hold your own, good luck at the tournament this weekend!
Our first night's camp-spot right next to the Welsh Lakes.
We started at the Welsh Lakes, climbed past Carmarthen Peak (named after the Welsh town and its famous castle I visited with my mom as a youngster), over the ridge of Alpha Centauri (3093 meters) and into the upper North Star Glacier. From here we descended the glacier so as to not sleep on ice and camped at 2600 meters on sand at the side of the glacier. The next day we enjoyed a casual ascent up the glacier and onto the shoulder of Alpha Centauri, a coupke of short 45 degree alpine ice, a couple of pitches of easy 5th class climbing, a stroll to its summit, and beautiful panoramic views south to Mount Farnham and east to the Rockies.
Alpha Centauri on the left, North Star on the right, from flsts on the glacier at around 2750 meters.
The crux of the traverse was gaining the ridge off the North Star glacier onto the lower shoulder of Mount Gwendoline. Christina and John do not go on these trips for the sake of technical rock climbing, preferring rather to travel through the high country for the peace and solitude and vistas it provides. What would have been an easy slope covered with snow was instead spitting loose rock from glacial recession, so we did three short 4th class pitches using terrain choice and seated hip belays to make it safe. With relatively large 5- day packs it was reassuring to have the rope.
Climbing the rock buttress out of the North Star glacier. John is all smiles as he gets to like rock climbing more and more.
For the traverse we took a minimum amount of gear we required. As much as it helps to have lightweight gear, it is a better trick to just leave the entire thing behind, for example the rack. So we managed to do the 5 days with a 60 meter rope, three ice screws, and a couple of lockers each. I could mention how light my Rab sleeping bag is, and especially how much smaller the new Rab Ultrasphere 4.5 packs than the old standard Neo-air, and that Camp makes what they claim is the lightest harness in the world, but knowing how to read terrain and use it to belay is a bigger advantage.
I thoroughly enjoyed guiding both these trips. There are always different styles of climbing and knowing how to leave everything behind and enjoy the mountains with a minimum of gear is at the heart of enjoying getting up high. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you are looking for such an experience, whether as part of a group or your own private booking.
Postscript
I should add that in fine style, during the amazing high pressure window when we traversed to the Catamount, two friends from Squamish walked in and established a new route on the North Howser over three days and two nights. This is in stark contrast to many who fly in and often neglect to mention this in their reporting of their ascents. Good style is something to strive for, we all know what it is!
