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East End of Rundle 

  • August, 2001

Hiking with Colleen.

A beautiful, hot , sunny, day and a very scenic and interesting hike. Most of the scramble goes right up the east edge of the mountain, giving you a great view throughout. Above the tree line there is a wonderful drop off and  good views of Ha-Ling Peak and Lawrence Grassi. We tried to make it up the right side of the mountain, but it looked a little tricky, so we cut across the scree slope at the base of the cliff band, in hope of finding another way up. Again we were unsuccessful and I left Colleen alone on a steep slope of scree to try and find the way up by myself (not a very considerate thing to do!). I found the correct route, but it didn't feel comfortable about leaving Colleen alone  and so I backed down again.

 

On the way down we took a wrong turn and ended up bushwhacking through the forest down some very steep slopes. We were not very happy campers and were very relieved when we made it to the bottom and found a trail back to the car. A somewhat trying, but enjoyable scramble.

 

    

Colleen taking a rest

 

 

         

A cliff band below the summit; I had to traverse   Colleen, with Ha-Ling Peak behind;  Little 

around the band to find the way up                     Sister can be seen in the distance to the left

 

 

East End Of Rundle II

  • September 29, 2001
  • Mountain height: 2,590 m (8,495 feet)
  • Elevation gain: 900 m
  • Ascent time: 1:30
  • Descent time: ?

My first solo scramble.

After failing the attempt about a month earlier, I was determined to make the summit. I had to start early as I was playing at a wedding with Shark Sandwich (the rock band that I'm in) that evening. I watched the sun rise from about a third of the way up the mountain. This time I decided to try to find a small gully to the left that led to the summit. I found the gully, ascended, and for the first time I sat alone atop a mountain - it was a big accomplishment for me and I felt great.

On the way down, I once again got off-course and ended up crawling down the cliffs right on the edge of the mountain. It was quite nerve-racking for a while. Ascent time was a decent 1 hour 30 minutes; descent would have been much faster had I taken the correct trail - still, I was back to my car before noon.

                                                                                                                      The summit from above the treeline

 

    
My first solo summit!

 

    
An interesting section of the mountain seen from the summit

 

East End of Rundle III  

  • March 8, 2003
  • Mountain height: 2,590 m (8,495 feet)
  • Elevation gain: 900 m
  • Ascent time: 3:30
  • Descent time: 2:10

Scrambling with Mark.

I very much enjoyed both of my two previous trips up the East End of Rundle, however, this third trip was by far the most interesting, scenic, and rewarding. It was also the coldest days of the entire winter and it took almost 6 months for my toes to fully recover from a minor touch of frost-bite. The temperature at the Goat Creek parking lot was a bone-chilling minus 32 dgrees Celsius. We took all the precautions - extra socks and toe-warmers - however, only 20 minutes into the trip, my feet were already painfully cold and they stayed that way for the entire three and a half hour ascent and most of the descent. 

The winter scenery throughout this scramble was pristine and breath-taking, especially some surreal views of Ha-Ling Peak. Our summit stay was short, due to a fierce wind that brought the temperature well into the minus forties. A fantastic winter scramble!  

    
Near the summit; a surreal view of Ha-Ling Peak and Lawrence Grassi

 

    
Mark at the summit, trying to look like he's actually warm!

 

    
Another east-facing summit view; I guess Mark didn't really care what he looked like at this point!

 

    
Looking west along the summit ridge 

 

    
A picture, taken on descent, of Ha-Ling Peak

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