Via Welsh Lakes.
Ref: Aaron Cameron and Matt Gunn's Hikes
around
Invermere & the Columbia River Valley.
Just
before reaching the first, lower lake, a cairn indicates a faint trail
that shortcuts to Aberystwyth Lake, the fourth of the Welsh
Lakes. We aimed for the north-east end of the lake and started
Glamorgan's ascent via its east ridge. We bypassed the north-east peak
and other gendarmes on the southern aspect. We travelled below the
ridge crest circumventing difficult terrain without losing too much
height. The summit block offers nice moderate scrambling; route
finding is the challenge on this scramble. |
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Beginning of the
trail. |
Scramble:
RT 10.0; 5.25 up. After a fantastic outing in the area last weekend, we
decided to come
back to enjoy more larches and try to ascend Glamorgan Peak. We didn't
have high expectations; the mountain looks daunting and we weren't able
to find any information other than a vague trip report on Bivouac that
mentions 4th class scrambling. We hiked to Aberystwyth Lake once again.
From the eastern lakeshore, we scrutinized our objective. Our plan was
to ascend Glamorgan's east ridge, bypass the north-east summit, which
appears to be the highest and traverse to the true summit at the
opposite end of the summit ridge. We knew from
pictures and previous trips that route finding would be key; we brought
a short rope for the summit block, just in case. The east ridge is
straightforward; as we neared the north-east summit, we started looking
for a place to traverse towards the next gendarme. Our strategy
was to crest in between each "gendarme", if possible, to check out the
ridge proper before searching for a traverse on the
south aspect. There's four sub peaks to negotiate in between the
north-east summit and true summit; it turns out we had to contour each
one of them on the south side, avoiding snow on the north aspect. We
built big cairns along the way to facilitate
backtracking. The scrambling isn't difficult, the challenge is finding
the right route; that said, the summit block is steep and hands-on
scrambling is required. I was very pleased to stand on this summit, I
didn't think we would reach the top. Fab found the tiniest register
ever; he broke a mini pencil we
brought to fit in there but there was no
blank paper for us to sign. We stayed at the top to enjoy the awesome
day and spectacular
view. Backtracking was fine, the cairns we built really helped. Back at
the lake, we sat for another fine break among the beautiful yellow
larches before returning to the truck. We're very thrilled about this
outing, sometimes you can't be sure of finding a way until your nose
is right up on it; it was worth investigating! |
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Shortcutting on a
crude trail to Aberystwyth Lake. |
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Hiking through
beautiful larches. |
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Glamorgan Peak and
its east ridge to the right. |
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Ascending big blocks. |
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Aberystwyth Lake
looks like an eye with the sun's reflection. |
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Bypassing the slabby
north-east peak. |
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Looking back at our
traverse. |
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Climbing traverse
towards the ridgeline (center). |
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Three of the
stunning Welsh Lakes. |
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Nearing the
ridgeline. |
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Circumventing
"gendarmes" on the southern aspect. |
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Glamorgan Peak's
true summit. |
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Moderate scrambling
leads to the top. |
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Big blocks grant
great purchase along the way. |
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Looking north-east,
along the ascent ridge. |
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Last bit!
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Tiniest summit
register ever! |
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View south-west
towards North Star Peak and Gwendoline Mountain (right). |
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Summit dance with
Merioneth Peak at my elbow and Harlech Peak at my knee. |
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Basking in the sun
on warm rock, T-shirt weather in late september. |
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Leaving the top. |
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Following carefully. |
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Steep blocky terrain. |
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Backtracking around
a "gendarme". |
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About to hook left
towards our cairns. |
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Looking back at a
"gendarme" we circumvented, Fabrice is in the middle of the picture. |
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Almost back to the
east ridge. |
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On the east ridge
with Donegal and Connemara Peaks. |
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At Aberystwyth Lake. |
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Another fine break
before heading back. |
Back
to home page |
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