Scrambling with Mark.

We thought success was guaranteed - we thought wrong!! Clear sky, mild temperatures, a foot of fresh snow - what could stop us?? How about a vicious wind that turned our hands and feet into blocks of ice, sending us running back down, tails between our legs! This area has not been named "Wind Valley" for nothing. In summer the high winds can be inconvenient; in fall and winter they can be downright bone-chilling.

 To try and salvage the day, we headed up an avalanche gully towards the Middle Sister/Little Sister col. From Stewart Creek, the route to the col looked straightforward. The landscape going up the gully was fantastic - the near vertical walls of the two Sisters, deep snow drifts, cornices, and snow blowing of the summits of nearby peaks. As usual, our destination looked deceivingly close and one hour up the gully we were still far from the col. The terrain became much steeper, with thigh-deep snow as we neared the walls of Middle Sister. Our intention was to traverse towards the col at this point. Unfortunately, we were to be foiled for the second time in the same day. The traverse was across very steep, snow-covered terrain that was too dangerous to attempt. We took pictures (the sky above the Sisters was a beautiful deep blue) and headed down. In retrospect, going up the straight up the next gully over, and heading directly for the col might have been a better route. It would still be very steep at the top, however, going straight up steep terrain is often easier than trying to traverse it. 8 hours and approximately 15 km of hiking and no summits achieved. A frustrating day - thankfully the outstanding scenery helped offset our disappointment. 

Two unnamed peaks, as seen from Stewart Creek

Looking southeast from our ascent gully.  Mount Collembola is the long ridge in the center of the picture and Mount Lougheed (at the right) towering over its surroundings   

Steep, snowy terrain below Middle Sister. The col is a little right of center 

Mark during descent. The huge walls of Middle Sister are behind him

Scrambling with Mark. 

Our third attempt and our third failure. Once again, deep snow in the approach gully barred the way to our destination. We tried to traverse around the snow filled gully, but found ourselves on steep, icy, impassable slopes. This was obviously the end of the line.

But wait!! After a short rest, a second attempt at the Middle/Little col seemed like a good idea. If we had returned the same way we came (losing much of our hard-gained elevation) and went up the first and most obvious avalanche gully, we would have surely made the col. But....noooo! Rather than losing  all that elevation we decided to try and traverse several huge avalanche gullies - the second big mistake of the day. It took us forever to get across and we probably expended twice as much energy as the other route would have required. The terrain varied, from steep, thigh-deep snow slopes, to slabs, to scree, and was at times quite treacherous. To add to this, I was rapidly losing energy and feeling the strains of exhaustion.

Finally, on the ridge overlooking the last gully, we made our final bad decision. Instead of learning from our mistakes and descending the ridge to get into the gully, we ascended further in an attempt to get past a rock wall, into the gully, and then up to the col. We were eventually confronted by a wall of rock above a very steep snow slope. Attempting to traverse around the rock would have been dangerous and foolish - so we did it anyway! Roped together, we very slowly made our way around the rock, through very deep snow, not knowing if there was solid ground beneath the snow. We were stopped short when we couldn't get up a less steep section of the wall. Any slip here would have sent us both hurling down the mountain with dire consequences. Exhausted and disappointed, we retreated. The long hike back to the car was absolutely miserable for me. I had obviously pushed too hard and was dehydrated and severely nauseated the entire way back. I had to stop often to rest and crashed as soon as I got home.  As disappointing and miserable as it was, I actually enjoyed the day - very strange??

Mark below the cliffs of Middle Sister. Little Sister is behind him and the Middle/Little Sister col is notch in between

Very Steep terrain enroute to the col; this a where our progress ended