Our plan was to hike up Old Baldy, however, due to snow cover of the trail and some confusing direction instructions, we ended up in a valley with Old Baldy on the left and unknown peak - we thought it was Mount McDougall, but realized later (about 2 years later in fact, while scrambling up The Wedge) that it was just a subsidiary peak of McDougall. We opted to go right, not knowing exactly what we would find and if we could reach a summit. After a tough struggle up a steep and snowy scree slope we continued up towards the summit that was as yet to be seen. After what seemed like an endless trudge, the summit came into view - a small volcano shaped peak far in the distance. It was deadly cold at the top, but the sun stayed out and gave us some great views. With more time and daylight a long ridge walk might have been possible.

On the ascent slopes

An ominous looking photo of our destination; the dark clouds moved on and it wasn't too bad at the summit cairn

At the summit; looking along the ridge towards the true summit of Mount McDougall

On descent; I'm the little figure at the bottom; The Wedge can be seen at the top middle