smoat4

Smoat Peak attempt IV – August 24, 2008

Roundtrip time: 11:10

Scrambling with Mark, Dan, and Steve.

This is a first: after four failed attempts at reaching the summit of Smoat Peak, Mark and I will probably never return for a fifth try. Our first four attempts were completed in winter conditions and we thought attempting the peak in the summer would guarantee success. We had made it to within a short distance of the summit on our first attempt, but the frigid weather conditions forced a quick retreat.

Along for the guaranteed successful summit bid (?) were Dan (now a wily scrambling veteran) and Steve (on his first scramble). In retrospect, this was not a good trip for anyone’s first scramble - it’s long, physically demanding, steep, and very exposed (especially the last section). Nevertheless, Steve held his own throughout the day and negotiated some difficult terrain not usually a requirement of anyone’s first scrambling experience.

Finding and ascending the avalanche gully we had used on previous attempts was considerably easier than our winter forays. We then took a break on one of the highpoints that line the east face of the massif. We decided to use the route we had first stumbled upon in November of 2007. It involved steep and exposed scrambling, but the rock was great. Dan took a path just right of the ridge and scrambled the entire section without a rope. Mark, Steve, and I scrambled straight up the spine of the ridge, finding it necessary to get the rope out for some of it.

To our surprise, the wind was pretty fierce upon reaching the ridge, though not the bone-chilling cold of last November. Then the ridgewalk towards the summit begins – though not terribly difficult, it is a long walk, requiring a couple of significant elevation losses. Some narrow sections of the ridge keep you on your toes, especially when the wind is strong. Again, Steve kept going even though the unstable rubble was far from easy to negotiate.

We finally arrived at the point where Mark and I had bailed in November. Dan took one look and decided against going any further. Steve agreed. Mark and I went to take a look and were not encouraged by what we saw. The first part of the ridge was a narrow, crumbling section of rock that looked like it would completely collapse under any amount of weight. After that the rock looked more solid but the exposure might be any issue. With a belay, I started the dicey-looking traverse. As expected the first, short section was nail-biting – perhaps the scariest section of rock I’ve ever been on. The quality of the rock did improve, but after running out the 30 m length of rope we had, I was unable to find a good place to set up an anchor to belay Mark over. The only course of action was to retreat before things got out of hand. Strangely, we might have had more success approaching this whole section without a rope. Of course, that would have instead required a pretty big set of kahunas! As well, the first section on the crumbly rock would have been extra, extra exhilarating!

Turning around was extremely disappointing, especially since we were so close and the weather had really cleared. We were able to enjoy most of the spectacular panorama, but it doesn’t get any better than the view from the top and we weren’t there (and probably never will be). The fact that we had seen a similar and probably better view from the summit of Old Goat Mountain, immediately south was of little consolation. We did spot an alternate route to the summit, but it required a big elevation loss. Dan and Steve had already started down the west side of the mountain and there wasn’t enough time for Mark and me to make another attempt. The four of us regrouped about halfway down the west side of the peak and then embarked on the long, but easy alternate descent route.

Not the way we wanted to end the summer of 2008, but a very good day nonetheless. Hopefully we didn’t scare Steve off scrambling, for the rest of his life!