2017-05-12 East peak of Wendell
Map of our route to the summit of EPOW! In the stats, the elevation gain is for the whole trip, We had to ascend Yam shoulder twice which added to the total elevation.
After hiking up the shoulder of Mt Yamnuska and down into the CMC Valley, following Ford creek and then gaining some altitude above the valley bottom, I finally started taking some photos.
in the CMC valley, a bit higher up along the lower slopes of Wendell, Leon makes his way up the slope.
As we traversed below Wendell we came across some incredible pillars. We stopped for some photos and some food.. we were around 5-6 kms into our approach.
Wendell is on the right. the landscape was amazing.
I shot a series of photos and made this vertical panorama of the pillars. Mt Yamnuska in the background.
After leaving the pillars, we sidehilled towards the end of the valley. The trail to the summit rounds a corner on climbers right and starts up a steep scree slope. Sometimes when I shoot Leon he starts walking in slow motion and over animates his steps.. the challenge is to get a shot that doesn't look goofy.
We've made it to the corner and are starting up the scree slope. The MPOW (main peak of Wendell) in the background.
The slope steeper and the scree was loose. Our progress slowed quite a bit here.
This slab area is the last bit of the scree ascent before we got to the summit ridge. We ascended from the bottom right. Mt Yamnuska in the background, you can see the red streak coming off her summit which is an excellent scree run.
The scree slope ended just below some cliffs. The trail goes climbers right, but is exploring climbers left.
Looking back at the scree slope we ascended.. we were looking forward to a quick descent.
The main summit ridge was just around the corner. Here Rob is looking to see if we'd be able to scramble over this part of the trail.. I think we ended up going around on the right.
On the summit ridge now. The massive pillars behind Leon are the same ones we passed earlier. just much lower down.
We're starting our way up the summit ridge. We thought the summit was close. It wasn't but the trail was good and the views were amazing. The weather was still holding for us.
Getting closer to the summit.. although the highpoint in the photo still isn't it.
Rob's first big mountain summit, looking north west. There was some gusty wind, but not enough to be an issue.
On the ridge just below the summit.
Leon picked up a new hat before this trip.. it makes him look more approachable and less ninja like.
same as the last photo, but one step closer.