A beautiful early-season climb

The directions for the West Ridge route were spot-on. In December 2007, we tried to summit via the northwest (crest) ridge, but were turned back about 1/4 mi from the top by snow, ice and strong winds. We summited early, so we decided to traverse and take the northwest (crest) ridge route back down. Most of the west ridge route is class 2, with perhaps one or 2 spots that would qualify as class 3. The crest ridge has quite a few spots that are class 3, mainly because of exposure. From the summit headwall, we took the small, southerly rockfall down to the lower reaches of the mountain and back to the lower west ridge route.

All in all, this is a great mountain to climb. It's rarely visited, beautiful and presents a significant physical challenge. We'll be back, that's for sure.

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