Wapta Icefield - Day 2

August 15, 2012 - Mt. Olive (3130m) and Mt. St. Nicholas (2970m)

Louise succumbed to hut plague last night so as we were packing to leave for 06:00, we suggested to Dave's team that for safety we do the same objective since they were short a rope member. This way there would be two ropes up on St. Nick and Olive. Hiked out from the hut just as the darkness was fading and arrived at the toe of the Wapta glacier. Leisha took the lead on the rope and we climbed up the ice. She did a phenomenal job navigating the crevasse fields as in the three hours it took to get to the base of Mt. Olive, we did not fall into any, even though a few detours and sketchy steps were necessary to get around some of them. We reached a steep snow slope leading up to some loose shale. we unroped and I led up he snow. Definitely felt the altitude as we slogged upwards. Breathing hard we reached the end of the snow. I spied a trail switchbacking up the shale, but it required a five meter scramble up loose shite that was really sketchy. Once the trail was gained, just careful footing brough us up to the ridge where we doffed our crampons, had a quick bite, and argued about which peak was the true summit of Mt Olive. After a bit of compass work, it was proven that the true summit (at least according to the map) was the northern one which was on the way to St. Nicholas. So we just hit this one, which was an easy climb up from our position between the two peaks. Down the ridge was a little spicier with some steeper snow which had to be down climbed, but this was a lot of fun. We reached the col and met a team from the Winnipeg ACC section. Dave's rope team came off of St. Nick as we were heading up. This climb was downright scary (at least for me). Lots of 4th class scrambling on loose rock. The crux was a slab about 5 meters across which had to be smeared with the feet while hanging on to the top edge going had over hand. Right before this, I ditched some gear on the ridge, including a snow picket and an avalanche probe, intending to pick it up on the way back. Finally we made the summit. The view was fantastic. This is definitely the most difficult (scary wise) of any mountain I have climbed to this date. The way back was just as scary. Hai set up an anchor and belayed us down one bit, but the rest was climbed unroped. We stuck to the snow for a longer stretch than on the way up, which meant we forgot the snow picket and probe somewhere on the ridge. Finally we got to the col and could breath a sigh of relief. Dave, Renee and Ivan W were waiting for us. After a quick break, we boot packed down the snow slope off the East side which was great fun and a fast way down. When we reached the glacier, we roped up with all seven of us on one rope which Renee lead the descent all the way back. We arrived back in the hut after ten hours on the go. Theresa had a spread of snacks ready for us which were eagerly consumed. The final team off of Mt. Gordon showed up an hour later. Dinner was a fabulous curry and lots of laughs were had over scotch in the evening. Tomorrow we plan to do Gordon via the ridge route from Vulture col. Hopefully the weather is as good today, which was perfect bluebird.

Alpine start.