over the hills and far away
Canada
709 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2012 : 12:17 AM
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On July 14, four of us summitted Mt. Hector (11,135ft) via the standard north glacier route.
 - Francis and Melanie, from Quebec, and
 - Shaun and myself.
This would be Shaun's fourth trip to the top, my second attempt, and Francis and Melanie's first.
We parked and slept on the side of the road, and left at 4:30am. It took 5.5hrs to summit, which we thought was good time.
      
We had great snow conditions on the way up.
     
When we got to the col, Francis unroped and soloed up to the summit. Friggin guy looked like Ueli Steck climbing up, at least to me.... Shaun took the lead on the rope with me and Melanie following. He climbed through the first cliff band and up the steep snow, which required a bit of front-pointing. He put in an ice screw and we went on up, with him belaying from the top.
  
Summit Views:
        
Once on top, work was quickly done to set up a rappel station. We all rappelled off the summit and down the steepest snow slope, and then downclimbed onto easier terrain, with Shaun again on belay for part of it.
   
  
The snow really started to soften up, so we hussled down and over to the ridge that connects to Lil Hector. We were taking a break when Shaun felt electric current dancing on his ears, so we left high ground and went back onto the glacier, and made our way down with no issues.
           
The weather could have been better, but the company was great. As always, I was just happy to be there. 
Some pics provided by Francis. |
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Mt Hector~~BNP~~July 14/12
