Back number Vol 99 Mt. Sir Douglas

The well-known mountain in Kananaskis, Mt.Sir Douglas 

This story is written by Toshi

Since the regretful bail on the attempt of Mt.Ball East face, I have been contemplating what I could have done differently. Although there were various minor problems, I came up with the biggest conclusion. It was that Alpine climbing in the Rockies (Equivalent to Japanese winter climbing)was purely significantly challenging and I just don't possess the skills to meet that level of difficulties.

 Also, I realized that I have been spending most of my energy and time on Sports mix climbing since I came to the Rockies, therefore, I didn't gain much experience. In a hindsight, multiple Alpine-style attempts that I have made in the Rockies so far that didn't succeed represent my lack of skills. This taught me that I was stuck in a vicious loop. With an idea of getting out of this situation this fall, I asked Bob to try another Alpine climbing. I chose North West face of Mt. Sir Douglas (3406m) for this time.

Long time since I headed into mountains with bivy gears

Got to have a glimpse of our goal after many hours of breaking trails

Probably with good preparation and experience, making the attempt of this line as a day trip would be feasible. However, I wanted this to be training with heavy gears so we decided to make it an overnight trip.  The amount of snow was much larger than usual and this prevented us from gaining speed so we concluded choosing an overnight was the right decision to make under this condition.

Mt. Sir Douglas next morning

Next morning, we left our tent before the sunrise and the surroundings was complete darkness. As a result, of course, we got lost. After climbing up a snow slope and reaching a ledge, we realized that we were at a wrong spot. We have already gained 500m since we started. There was nothing to do but climb down and I decided to take it as a stamina and endurance training... So we came down to the almost same altitude as our tent and tried the right line. In the Rockies, everything seems to be closer but the truth is that there is always a huge distance between seeing an object and reaching there.

Passing over glacier while avoiding hidden crevasse

The white part in the picture above is a glacier. The snow piled up on the glacier creates hidden crevasses and because of this we had to move around with extra care.

Finally, after torturous training, we got to see the objective 

Having been spoiled by the Sports climbing, even an easy slope made me extremely exhausted.

 Simul-climbing on the snow wall

Speed is an essential aspect in climbing big mountains. Sometimes, prioritizing speed over risk management can be a safer option.  Moving faster in an easy section can be the key.

Widespread view of the mountains 

The weather wasn't bad but the Rockies aren't that easy even on those days. The condition on that day was extremely challenging. Since we reached the wall and started climbing, there were winds with snow blowing from all directions which almost made breathing impossible. There was Chinook on that day. In the Rockies, Chinook creates gorgeous weather with unbelievable winds especially high up in the mountains.  On nice days in the morning, after a night of full of stars over your head would be freezing cold with radiational cooling and warm daytime awaits you with strong wind often faster than 50km/h.

         Forceful smiles on the peak...      Toshi (left) and Bob (right) 

As you can tell from our face, what occupied our head at the moment was how to go down.
On our way down, the strong wind caused small avalanches here and there... Together with the crazy amount of winds we felt the excitement of the Rockies for our achievement. Avalanches were all small scales so I thought they wouldn't affect us too much, yet we took extra caution as climbing down than the ascend and try to go faster. While avoiding the attack of avalanches and traversed a path that continuous avalanche hits we finally reached a gentle terrain of a glacier.

View of  Mt.Birdwood with smoke caused by an avalanche

Anyways, we succeeded completing our mission for this time. The momentary satisfaction that I felt on the top of the mountain gradually came back from within after getting home.  This trip taught me again that you really need to go to mountains to gain alpine climbing experiences. It's not just climbing nor just be measured by the grade. There are many variable factors in Alpine climbing and in the nature that challenge us from all aspect. For me, alpine climbing is an act of getting to the peak of the mountains while conquering unmeasurable danger and unforeseeable challenges. 

With refreshed motivation, I made a goal of maintaining my climbing skills while keep on going to find and try the new big lines for the upcoming season.

             

                                                                                              Translated by Yumiko Mori