| Drive south past the Goat Creek
parking lot on the Spray
Lakes gravel
road. Cross the bridge over to the east side of the canal and
park at
the gate, 121536. We hiked about 100 meters on the canal's service
road and started up the west facing slopes at a clearing. The treed
terrain is easy to travel through. We veered climber's left as we
ascended and skirted the south-west gully of the
objective;
aiming to reach treeline at 133545. From there, gain the summit ridge
and head north over a highpoint dotted by a huge cairn. The summit is a
bit further, it's easily reached by
circumventing the summit block on the west side. |
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Shallow crystallized
snowpack... |
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Ship's Prow Mountain
(center). |
| Snowshoe trip: RT 8.0; 5.0 up. We got the idea of
doing this outing via the south ridge after reading a trip
report from the Ramblers.
We figured it could be a good candidate for a winter ascent after a
couple of strong wind events scoured the alpine; this time seemed
right! After a stressful drive, we finally parked at the trailhead; we
slowly prepared, not particularly determined to get going... It was
quite windy, we embraced the sheltered ascent in the forest. Travelling
was pleasant and the snowpack wasn't deep at first. As we proceeded,
the grade steepened and the depth of the snow increased. The
heavily crystallized shallow snowpack made snowshoeing
challenging, even for
the person behind. Meanwhile, we could hear the excited yelping of the
numerous sled-dog teams below on the frozen lake; the familiar sounds
made us smile. Nearing treeline, unsupportive soft slabs had formed and
we felt knackered punching through the knee-deep snow; we continued
with a promise of scoured terrain above treeline. Once on rock, we
traded shelter and hardship for easy travel, exposed to the mighty
wind. The sun was peering through the clouds at times; we climbed to
the summit ridge and walked to the highpoint with the big cairn. The
rest of the ridge remains straightforward, it soon leads to the summit
block that we circumvented on the west side for easy access to the top.
The wind quickly chilled us even with all our layers; we took pictures
and grabbed a quick bite before retracing our steps back. At 4 PM, we
reached treeline and strapped on the snowshoes; sheltered from the wind
we
took another brief break before the speedy descent ahead. We got to the
truck with 15 minutes of daylight to spare. This was a fine way to wrap
up 2013! |
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Treeline, bye bye
shelter. |
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The objective (left
center) and a highpoint with a big cairn. |
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Big Sister south of
us, from the highpoint. |
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Looking back, the
arrow indicates where we crested on the ridge. |
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The summit ahead.
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Circumventing the
summit block. |
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Looking back again. |
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We chose an easy
gully to climb. |
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Mount Lawrence
Grassi in the sun. |
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Standing on the
cairn at the windy top; whoot, whoot! |
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View south along the
ascent ridge. |
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The actual Ship's
Prow points to the Flatlands to the east.
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Coming down the
gully. |
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Another route
mentioned continues down the gully. |
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Cornices on the lee
side of the scoured ridge. |
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Good travelling,
wind aside... |
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Eager to reach
treeline for shelter and another pause. |
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Following the trench
back down. |
| Back
to home page |
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