| Ref: Soistheman's
Digital Diary
|
|
|
|
|
Patterson's Peak awaits.
|
Scramble:
RT 14.0 (includes Serendipity Peak); 1.75 up. After reaching the summit
of Serendipity, Pawel and I separated from Charles and continued to
Patterson's. It had taken a long time to attain the first peak, it made
sense to take advantage of this and carry on; I still had energy and I
didn't want to have to return to Serendipity... We dipped down to a
shallow saddle and traversed in the shade on scree, talus and snow
towards Patterson's connecting ridge. Travel was tedious at times, I
was thrilled to step on the ridge in the sun. The ridge is
straightforward but required careful hiking through boulders and snow.
It took us a little less than 2 hours to reach the summit of
Patterson's, it was now 3 PM. We had a 20-minute break to replenish and
take pics; we couldn't linger, we wanted to reach the trees before
dark. We backtracked to Serendipity where we had another quick break
before resuming our descent to treeline. The following section wasn't
too bad, I managed to make it to the trees without slipping. By now,
the sun was setting; we stopped to take pictures and enjoy the last
sunrays on the mountainsides. The rest of the hike was executed in the
dark. It became increasingly difficult to follow our footprints in the
snow, that's when Pawel started using his GPS unit to navigate; at some
point, he just kept it in his hand for frequent revisions. This was way
more efficient than pulling out an older style GPS, taking a reading
and checking the position on the map! After a couple of hours plodding
in the dark, we reached the very steep grassy slope that leads to the
highway. The descent was slow for me as I suspected it would be, I
didn't want to re-injure my knee. Pawel patiently waited while I took
my time planting each step in the ground. I was thrilled when the grade
tapered and even more so when I saw the bleeping dashboard light of my truck! I
sure was happy with this trip, it was a long haul for this time of the
year. I think Pawel was also very
pleased with this accomplishment. This was yet another fabulous day in the
mountains!
|
|
|
|
Looking back at the traverse from Serendipity Peak.
|
|
 |
|
On the connecting ridge.
|
|
 |
|
Standing on a rock arch.
|
|
|
|
The objective from the highpoint on the ridge.
|
|
|
|
Picking our way along the ridge.
|
|
|
|
Getting close.
|
|
|
|
Glancing back at the connecting ridge as we near the top.
|
|
|
|
Pawel sitting by the summit cairn.
|
|
|
|
Mount Head to the south.
|
|
 |
|
|
Northern view, Dogtooth and Pyriform Mountains blend as one!
|
|
|
|
|
|
A look at Serendipity (left of center) and Pyriform S5 on the right. |
|
|
|
|
|
Flatland meeting the mountains to the east.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Moi, happy and satisfied!!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Heading back.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Backtracking.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Traversing to Serendipity Peak.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Ascending talus, scree and snow.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Last glimpse.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Serendipity take II...
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Descending Serendipity before the sunset.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Circumventing this gendarme.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Lower down, some of the snow has melted.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Last sunrays on Serendipity Peak.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Enjoying this moment and taking pictures.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Beautiful sunset.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Fabulous day!!
|
| Back to home page
|
|
|