Taking advantage of the clear skies, snow in the gully’s and long days, we ventured on to the S.E. ridge of Mnt. Cheops and the N.W. of MacDonald.
On the 25th we scrambled up from the Roger’s Pass summit directly towards the Napolean Spur, then followed the S.E. ridge to the summit of Cheops. The route provides great views of the surrounding peaks, and even better bush whacking! Only technical climbing was up and over the Spur. (5.2, 100m) 5 hours up. Descent towards
On the 26th we crossed over to the other side of the highway and explored the N.W. ridge of MacDonald. We started at the base of the buttress and then simply followed the crest to the top, essentially a slightly longer and slightly harder variation of the Davis/Bay route. 20 pitches of roped travel 5.8 and several sections of exposed scrambling. Descent via S.W. ridge which involved mostly scrambling and then two rappels (or exposed down climbing) to the top of the Herman Couloir –climber’s left variation. Step kicking down the snow couloir led us in to the main basin, followed by 1300m of perfect boot skiing! An excellent route! 15 hours.
As a side note, Sir Donald is dry to mid elevation, but is still very snowy above. Looks like it will be another week or two before it’s in condition, assuming the hot weather continues.
Enjoy the early summer alpine,