Monday, June 20, 2005

Yarrow-East Ridge

A good fun alpine route with some fun exposure.



Head south of Twin Butte about 5 km(??) to Spread Eagle Road. Turn west until you come to a "Tee" junction and head south to the end of the road. Park here and hike the fence line south to the top to the hill and turn right (west) and head for the big hill in front of you trending slightly right. Once on top, just follow the ridge until the scrambling ends and the climbing begins. We took two ropes but all our climbing was done in 30m pitches to keep the rope drag down so it would be very feasable to do it with one rope. The rock was a little manky in a few places but the whole route took good protection with good belay stations. The whole route mostly followed the ridge or the left side of the ridge with one place staying right of the ridge ( it's pretty obvious once your there). The final summit pitch we climbed on the right side but you could walk around on the right side to the Yarrow/Spread Eagle col and scramble the final pitch. From the summit, we descended down to the col and then turned right and carefully headed down the north face picking our way through the cliff bands. As you get near the bottom you'll see a cattle trail. If you stay on this cattle trail it will take you around to the front side of the ridge to the ascent route. From there just follow your tracks back to the vehicle.
Dave has some good pictures on his website for those interested (www.dave-stephens.com)
We put it at an alpine 3 5.6.
The whole route went clean, no pins!!!
We used:
Three long slings
Two medium slings
Hex's (very useful)
Tri-cams
Nuts
#.5, #.75 and #1 cams
6-8 quick draws
Have fun........

Labels:

6 Comments:

At 6/21/2005 12:50:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good work guys. When I was checking Dave's page to see what you all have been up to, I was worried it was going to be the third strike for that route!

So how about the east ridge of Wilbur on the 9th of July? I don't know if I am up to the Grand Sentinel, True Grit or some of those other routes. I have been taking advantage of the high water more than I have the wet rock. 

Posted by chris goble

 
At 6/21/2005 12:59:00 PM , Blogger chris g said...

Yeah Dave, you are right, those ridges are great for ridge walks. You can get down to Red Rock all the way from North Drywood or from by Victoria peak. Clear walking all the way down. Driving up to Bovin (Blue) Lake in South Drywood (Carpenter creek) is a good way to access it. The gate is now open for the summer. There is a road on the side valley there that leads to a pass down to West Castle (not good for cars). Alternatively I just hike up to the north of the lake. It makes for a nice trip.

 
At 6/22/2005 09:53:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chris, are any of the other valley gates opened in the summer?  

Posted by Linda Breton

 
At 6/22/2005 10:30:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nope, that is the only one. They are of course open to Shell workers and to the Park employees and such. Personally I think if a road is closed it should be closed to all. Unless it is entirely private, I don't think much of selective closures to the public. But then I think if a rule is going to be made, it should apply to everyone. This tends to limit stupid rules. The only exception I can see is access for building facilities.

I guess the problem is that the shell roads are private roads on public property. The conservation groups are trying to do the best they can by limiting impact by closing it to as many people as possible. It will be interesting to see what happens as the shell plant ramps down over the next decade or so. 

Posted by chris goble

 
At 6/22/2005 12:47:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Chris. I don't mind the road closures, too much anyway. While it would save me a few km's for various trips if it were opened up, I'd probably see a lot more traffic and people in there too. As it is, it's a nice get away from the National parks. I've never even encountered the Shell workers or park employees yet. Just kayakers! 

Posted by Linda Breton

 
At 7/04/2005 11:41:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dave's site has been down for a while now.

Does anyone here have any insite??? 

Posted by Jake

 

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