Archive:Mountaineering Camp 2009

The Deal

Mountaineering camp is our pre-school year trip where VOC'ers of all abilities get together to bag some peaks, climb, hike, talk about all the skiing they want to do this year, or just ramble on. This is not an instructional trip but there will undoubtedly be experienced members willing to take inexperienced members with them and show them the ropes (or at least make them carry the ropes). Hopefully this setup results in more mountaineering and less "mountain-erring".

The Place

This year's location is Wedgemount Lake. There is a small 6 person "first come first served" hut and camping sites available.

Web info:
Vancouver Trails
Bivouac

The Dates

As is customary, Mountaineering Camp 2009 will be held over the Labour Day long weekend which is Sept 5th to 7th this year.

Description

I've just pulled this from Bram's 2007 wiki:

Drive, approach, routes

Topo map surrounding Wedgemount Lake

Crop of NTS map suitable for printing

Drive

Follow the highway 99 North to Squamish and Whistler. Past Whistler, take the Wedgemount Lake Road turnoff. See google maps for description untill here. This turnoff is on the right side of the road, after passing Green Lake. The Wedgemount Lake Road can be driven with a normal 2WD (no low-riders tough ;-)). Turn left after crossing the Green River and railroad, then right up a hill where a sign indicates the route to Wedgemount Lake. Just a bit further up, the overgrown Rethel Creek Spur branches off to the right. Road's end is about 2km from Hwy 99 turnoff (parking and outhouse). Please don't leave tons of room in between the cars while parking, as the parking lot is likely going to get busy.

Approach

Follow the Wedgemount Lake Trail (1150m elevation gain in ~7km), steep but easy to follow.

Camping spot

We will all camp at the lake camp sites. These campsites are located at the North side of Wedgemount lake, ~10 minutes past the Wedgemount Lake hut, near the inlet from the Armchair Glacier. There are ~10 tentpads at this location with overflow camping available on the delta near the lake sites. There is also an outhouse and running creek for water at the lake camp sites.

Routes

Around Wedgemount Lake

Left to right: Wedge, Parkhurst and Rethel Mountain (mid July '07)

The North side of Wedge Mountain (mid July '07)

North face of Weart Mountain (Aug. 1, 2000; photo from Cascadeclimbers)

Wedge Mountain (2892m)

• West ridge, moderate scramble (*) from Wedgemount lake (can avoid glacier travel if needed)
• North ridge, glacier travel, up to 45˚ snow/ice ridge (AD-)
• Various couloirs on NE, N, NW side (might be snow or ice)

Weart Mountain (2822m)

• Southeast ridge: moderate scramble (***) from Wedgemount lake (no glacier)
• NW Ridge: Class 3-4 climb traversing all 3 summits of Mt. Weart from the Weart - Cook col.
• North face: glacier travel, steep snow/ice face, possibly mixed (AD+)

Mount Cook (2676m)

• Easy scramble (*) from Cook-Weart col (no glacier).
• Easy scramble from the west ridge

Mount Moe (2664m)

• South ridge: scramble, glacier travel

Parkhurst Mountain (2494m)

• Moderate scramble (**) from Wedgemount lake (no glacier)

Rethel Mountain (2408m)

• Moderate scramble (**) from Rethel-Parkhurst col (no glacier)

East of Wedge-Weart col

Lesser Wedge Mountain (2738m)

• From the west: 4^th class scramble from Wedge-Lesser Wedge col, glacier travel
• Couloir on North side (might be snow, ice or mixed)

The Owls (2720m)

• From the south: apparently easy, steep and loose
• Snowy Owl Couloir on North side (might be snow, ice or mixed)

Mount James Turner (2703m)

• Scramble from the southwest face and upper south ridge, glacier travel
• Scramble from the northwest ridge, glacier travel
• Couloir on North side (TD; snow ice, or mixed)

Peggy Peak (2623m)
Unnamed "Peak 8600ft" NNE of Peggy Lake

• Apparently an easy glacier walk from the North

Oasis Mountain (2561m)

• Easy from Eureka-Oasis col, involves glacier travel

Eureka Mountain (2523m)

• Easy from Eureka-Oasis col, involves glacier travel

More information

Note that all books are available from the VOC library, please copy and bring them back asap so other people can use them too.

• Alpine Select: Climbs in SW BC & N WA, Kevin McLane, 2001, Elaho publishing corporation.
• Scrambles in SW BC, Matt Gunn, 2005, Cairn publishing. Difficulty (easy, moderate, difficult, very difficult) and quality (* to ***) ratings are given for scrambles in this area (see above).
• A guide to climbing and hiking in SW BC, Bruce Fairley, 1986, Gordon Soules Book Publishers Ltd.
• Bivouac
• Cascade Climbers

Sign Up

Sept 3 update: Please have a look at the forum: Due to the poor forecast at Wedge there is a discussion about going to climb at Vantage instead.

Wedge

1. Colin V (apparently wedge arete is bare scree and sucks monkey balls) (I've heard the same about you Colin! :-P)
   
2. Eliza Boyce
3. Greta R
4. Evan M
5. Bob L
6. Doris
7. Laura M
8. Phil Tomlinson
9. Andrew Silversides
10. Bram vS (tentative)
11. Nick M
12. Roland Burton Not welcome to the USA and not enough Attractive Young Ladies to justify getting wet.
13. Sarah Stepec
14. Noriko Okamoto (now I'm coughing damn viri from the chest... )
15. Mike Duncan
16. Veronika Schmitt
17. Matthew Carroll
18. Meghan S. Anderson
19. Paul Lanfranchi
20. Alireza Sharif
21. Todd Mackenzie
22. Martin Pajchel
23. Tara Muzumdar

Vantage

1. Lee Wasilenko
2. Kelly Bapty
3. Ran Z

Rides

Post your # of available seats, location, departure and arrival preferences

Wedge

• Mike Duncan, 5 seater 4x4 truck. Leaving from kits area.

1. Andrew Silversides
   
2. Sarah Stepec
   
3. Bob Lai
4. Eliza Boyce

• Paul Lanfranchi, 3 seats available, 4 if you want to get cosy. Leaving UBC @ 11:00 on Saturday, leaving the lake sometime Monday morning. Leave me your contact info - I'm out of town until Friday night.

1. Nick M
2. Phil Tomlinson
   
3. Tara Muzumdar (604-786-8949)

Vantage

• Kelly Bapty, 3 seats available (2 are kinda small but ample gear space in the box), Kits,

1. Lee (shotgun!)
   
2. Kelly's friend?

• Civic (can fit 1 more if this person puts his/her gear in Kelly's truck)

1. Bob
2. Ben
3. Bram
4. Greta

Tents/Food Groups

Try to organize with those in your car to make it easy!