Climbed the South Ridge on Mt. Fable a couple of days ago. Conditions were mostly dry and excellent until the upper rock pitches. Snow on the crux pitches & summit ridge made it more challenging than normal but a few more days of this heat and it should be mostly dried out.
The approach up the creek from Exshaw was easy going with a good trail punched through the remaining patches of snow.
Descending from the summit we found it easiest to head down the ridge for about 5 minutes and then drop off skiers right (North East) onto scree, NOT onto the West side as the guidebook says. From there it was easy to contour around to the col.
A few midsize cams, a set of nuts, and 1 rope did the trick. Pitons would be usefull if you ended up having to descend the route. There were some fixed anchors that would help if you had to rappel but they were in bad spots for belaying. Crampons were not needed.
Also climbed the ESE Ridge on Lady Macdonald (5.5) yesterday. It was dry in all of the difficult sections. Perhaps this is old news but the hangers have been removed off most of the bolts.
J. Mills
ACMG Alpine Guide
info@cdnalpine.com
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