Mt. Cline

So while I busy myself with midterms (1 left!) and an Estimation and Project Management course for work (oh yeah riveting stuff), I'll reflect on Mt. Cline, my first 11 000er in 8 years.
So I talked a little bit before about my first peak, and coincidentally first 11 000er Mt. Temple, back when I was twelve.  Well, since then I haven't gotten up a single big peak.  So finally this season I made plans at Mt. Cline in a 2 day trip.  I drove out with Viktor and Chris to my super-favorite camping spot in David Thompson Country, about 10 minutes drive from Saskatchewan River Crossing and 100% free.  You can build a campfire, camp in peace and privacy and not be bothered once.  It beats paying $30 a night at the Parks Canada run campgrounds that's for sure!

Free camping at its best.  Lots of firewood around too!

Anyhoo, we got up at a relaxed time and packed up our gear.  For some reason I had the motivation to pack BOTH half ropes and a million pounds some extra trad gear in anticipation of some rock climbing around camp in the evening.  I neglected to consider the fact that the added weight would negate any extra energy that I would have available for rock climbing.  Lesson well learned.  We parked at Thompson Creek, and following a trail up the righthand side soon arrived at a makeshift bridge to cross to the West side.  If you were headed for the North Ridge route on Cline (on the list for next year), you would stay on the East side.  We worked our way up the creek, found our way to the tricky route around the waterfall and eventually arrived at camp.  And boy is that ever a camp!  2 beautiful tarns in an awesome surrounding, with a view worth a million bucks to the South.

Above the waterfalls, with Mt. Peskett behind.

5 Star Accommodations. Note the amount of snow still present in mid-July in the front ranges.

Viktor about to test out the "Hot Tub".  Cowboy Chris is behind.

Cowboy Chris performs the signature pose.  "You talking to me, BOY?"

We just lounged around seeing as none of us had the energy to yank out our rock climbing gear and set off for the cliffs surrounding the camp.  Besides most of the good looking rock was still wet due to snow melt.  We hit the sleeping bags early and set our alarm for 2:00 AM, ecstatic about the clear weather and looking forward to watching the sunrise from the summit.

2:00 AM rolled around, and as was typical for this summer, it was pouring and heavy winds kept battering the tent.  None of us had the gumption to go out into that, we knew it could only be worse outside the protected amphitheater we were camped in.  We went back to sleep disappointed and grumpy.

Got up at 8:00 to clearing weather and decided to go for it, even though this would unarguably spell a very late return to Edmonton.  Leaving camp by 8:45 (what an alpine start!) we headed off up the headwall behind the lakes.  Soon enough we were toiling up a low angle scree slope with a seemingly infinite length.  Eventually we crested that.  Next we made ourselves into even larger fools by ascending the false summit to the SW of Cline.  I have no clue how we thought that could be Cline itself but we were really committed on screwing this climb up so why not do it properly?  After bashing quickly down that false bump, we crossed the "glacier" (not much risk of crevasses if you stick close to the rock on your right) and headed for Cline itself.

Abraham Lake (Reservoir) from the False Summit of Cline.

After scrambling along the ridge for a while, we hit the two notches.  A quick 2-cam belay (not really necessary) and we crossed to the intermediate anchor.  We were using one half rope, I led and Chris and Viktor followed on their own strands.  Very efficient at moving through this bottleneck.  The second notch was tougher with an overhanging downclimb.  I now understand that most folks rappel this step which makes sense.  I on the other hand downclimbed on ice-covered holds with several thousand feet of air under me and then jumped the gap.  Not the most enjoyable climbing I have done but exhilarating nonetheless.  The other side has a good body brace for belaying off of.  After that some more toiling (this time on snow) brought us to the top, in clear and beautiful weather.

On top, 11 027 feet above sea level.  GoPro so I fit in with all the douchebags.

Viktor and Chris descend off the summit.  The ridge trends toward the left until it hits the false summit.  The route traverses below that summit and then curves left and drops down behind.

After a short stint on the top we retraced our steps and reclimbed through the notches.  We were now in a proper hurry realizing the time and wanting to get out of the woods before dark!  In our hurry I slipped descending off the ridge, and thank god for the keen eyes of my two buddies for catching my fall on the short rope.  There was a slick ice tongue veiled in snow, which I didn't test before moving onto.  Lesson: always use the rope if you're carrying it anyway.  It really won't slow you down and it prevented a very nasty, exposed slide.

The rest of the trip passes in a whirlwind of sore shoulders, heavy packs, jarred knees and exhaustion.  5:00 back at camp, began descending at 6:00 and reached the campground at 9:00.  I fell asleep in the back seat and got to my workplace at 2:00 AM, scared the security guard shitless while picking up my car, drove home with the "gas tank empty" light on and managed to find a gas station just in time.  I was back at work for 7:00 AM that same day.