My trip to Wedgemount Lake is what made me discover the majesty of the Coast Mountains. After moving to Vancouver I had spent most of my time biking on the North Shore, until I looked down on Whistler village from 2 kilometers above.
It came to be that on the week-end of july 23rd, I decided to undertake the biggest climb of my short hiking history: from the base of the valley in Whistler, I would hike over 2000 meters up to attempt to stand atop mount Weart. During my move to Vancouver from Ottawa, I had set some personal height gain records in the rockies, but I was obviously not prepared for the punishing ascent that the wedgemount group would deliver. Wanting to up the ante, I set out from Vancouver on the 23rd around 10 and was at the parking lot around 1. I drove as far as possible with my 2wd compact, only to find that the road got very rough higher up. I stopped at 660 meters, parked, strapped my pack and headed up.
Progress was quick through the trees, for the first hour. As I slowed down, time seemed to slow simultaneously. The forested section of the trail seemed unending: switchback after switchback, poor GPS coverage and a pack that seemed to be getting heavier by the minute.
Finally, after 2.5 hours I caught a glimpse of the slopes of Cook and Rethel. Somehow the sight made me feel as if I hadn't climbed at all: both peaks were still so high above me and I had the impression of being on a treadmill. I also read an elevation of 1450 meters. Ignoring this discouraging fact, I continued to treeline, where the spectacular vista unfolding behind reminded me of why I was here. I eagerly climbed on towards the headwall below the lake and painfully made my way to its crest.
I was finally there! Wedgemount Lake. Not quite the objective, but a safe haven for the night to come. After observing the lake from the top of the headwall I decided to pitch my tent on a small sandy point on the North side of the lake. The evening was completely clear and the sunset over Wedgemount Lake was beautiful.
It was 8 o'clock sunday morning by the time I was up and ready to go. The sky was clear except for a few clouds blowing off the upper part of Wedge mountain, and the temperature was a cool 4 degrees. Since I had missed my 6:00 start time, I decided to take it easy and head up Cook instead. I also decided that an easy ascent was the smart thing to do given my scrambling experience, or the lack thereof.
I headed WNW from camp towards grassy slopes, the route that I thought was right. As it turns out, I headed way too far west, missed the gentle slopes I should've ascended (due North of camp), and climbed brutal loose, steep talus. After a lengthy traverse and little elevation gain I wondered if it was worth it to continue, as the terrain was far more difficult than the rockies scree I had hiked on in the spring. I ended up continuing, arriving at the end of the large talus boulders and onto a flat area ("plateau") covered in smaller rocks. From here, I turned East and quickly climbed up 300 meters of solid scree, with the occasional snow patch. Once on the ridge , I hiked to the false summit. At this point I had reached my turn-around time, but since the sky was clear and the summit was very close (and less than 50 meters higher) I went on towards the true summit.
Just before the summit, the gentle ridge top ended, and I had to descent a few meters south and traverse a section of broken rock , before regaining the ridge crest. The summit was only a short plod away.
Being almost out of time, I snapped a few shots, took in the scenery and headed down. I was tempted to descent directly towards the lake, but not wanting to run into any cliffs I followed my route up. All in all the excursion had taken me 6 hours, a lot more than the 1.5 hour ascent quoted in my guide!
Once back at camp, I rounded up my gear and headed out. After hiking some 65 meters back up the headwall retaining Wedgemount lake, I realized the descent would be no walk in the park. I started to descend around 4, and although I made it back to the car at 6, it seemed like the desent would take forever. The 7-km trail was competed fairly quickly, but with the same feeling of a never-ending treadmill as on the way up.
When I dropped my pack by the car, it felt like I had suddenly grown wings. I had never done such a massive hike, and doing so with a 40-lb backpack (I always pack too many clothes), I was quite proud of myself. My knees felt like I had a bad case of arthritis and and 40 extra years of age. That evening I vowed never to return to Wedgemount Lake... But I know I will!
Trip Report by Scott Nelson: Mount Cook - West Route
September 03, 2002 (1 days) Difficulty: A few moves of class 2 Abstract: This route offers an enjoyable off trail hike and scramble up Mt. Cook. No 3rd class climbing is involved.
写道:
After climbing Wedge and Weart the previous 2 days, I was due for a break. So far the VOC's 2nd annual Mountaineering Camp had been pretty darn good. Chris Majewski and a few others were taking an easy day as well. Their climb of the north arete of Wedge the day before involved a 100ft. fall down 45 degree ice caught on a boot axe belay.
The plan was a rest day, but the weather was good and by 11am I was itching to do something. We settled on Mt. Cook. Chris and I and a few others set out from the Wedgemount Lake Hut, following a trail northeast swinging to the left of a couple of small outcroppings. The trail ended just past the final outcropping. We climbed up and right here through meadows and rockslides to reach an alpine bench below Mt. Cook. The prognosis for going straight up looked ok, but we followed the bench to the left instead to enjoy the views. This turned out to be a wise move, as the stability of the rocks on the slope improved dramatically to the west, making the indirect route worthwhile. The walk back east along the broad summit ridge was very pleasant with good views of Wedge, Weart, and the mountains to the north. From the end of the long ridge walk, some easy scrambling got us to the summit of Mt. Cook with no trouble whatsoever. It was 3 hours up from the lake.
On the way down we took a more direct route, following what seemed to be a trail, but loose rocks all over the open slope made the travelling a bit tedious. We would have been better off sticking to the bench + ridge route from the way up.
Overall, this was an excellent activity for a non-technical rest day at Wedgemount Lake. You could even do this route as a day trip from the cars if you wanted to. Be warned though, it's over 2000m of climbing from the parking lot.
GPS waypoints:
50°09.7' -122°49.0' = Wedgemount Lake Hut
50°10.0' -122°48.7' = Start of Bench
50°10.5' -122°49.0' = End of Bench
50°10.5' -122°48.6' = Broad Summit Ridge
50°10.3' -122°48.2' = scrambling section
50°10.4' -122°48.0' = Mount Cook Summit
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这一直是如梦境般美丽的地方。一直想去，但是周末上班。。。
