After taking back-to-back courses, I was super keen to get out and actually practice my trad climbing skills. I'd have liked to work on short-roping as well, but I was happy to just do some rock climbing instead. Originally, the plan was to give "Shooting Gallery" on Mt. Andromeda a go with Steve, but weather issues shut that plan down. Instead, I called up Pim and asked if he wanted to follow me up a multipitch rock route in Jasper. The weather was forecasted to be splitter, I had just gotten my anchor and gear placement technique dialed, and it looked like we were going to have a blast.
I decided on the Chase/Rowlands route on Ashlar's Ridge. This was mostly based on Cyril telling me that I should give it a go. There was a warning that the crux hold had broken off, but heck it's 5.7 so I wasn't biting my nails over that. On Friday, we drove down to Jasper. After stopping in at the Roche Perdrix quarry, finding kamikazee mosquitos and fleeing, we tried the Pocahontas Campground and found similar results. We drove on to Snaring, found that full, so went back to Poco and endured a painful camping experience. Never mind though because we came and went without anyone even noticing us.
Now, here's where I explain how I've learnt a lesson the most hard way possible. As we shoved gear into our packs while fending off more mosquitos at the parking area, I noticed that Pim was packing a large Camelbak. With that comforting me, I decided to take only a single water bottle and restock from his water supply when I ran out. I would be leading everything after all, and wanted to keep my pack light. So, we quickly went down to the Fiddle River, waded across, and then got chased up to the base of the route by - you guessed it - mosquitos. We both worked hard in an effort to out-run the damn bugs and had thus already broken a sweat. Bad news then, when Pim's Camelbak burst at the top of the first pitch. We were now left with only 800 mL of water between the two of us. We decided to soldier on, because we had already dealt with those stupid bugs and didn't really feel like bailing back into that hell-infested forest. This decision I agree with since it had been such an ordeal just to get to the darn climb.
The first 3 pitches (we linked the first two together) went rather easy and we stopped for a little lunch on the large treed ledge. Continuing up, I passed what is probably the world's sketchiest anchor (we cut it off after leaving the belay) and worked into the good rock climbing. Out of the 11 described pitches, there are 4 or 5 good pitches of climbing, the rest are meh. Those 4-5 pitches are real nice though, and it is a route that I might do again, perhaps next year on a club trip. I found the crux to be rather simple for 5.7, simply requiring some good balance. The next pitch was flowy 5.6+ up the chimney to the belay tree. At this point, neither Pim nor I could swallow due to dehydration, so my opinion of the last two pitches might be a tad tarnished. I do remember the second to last pitch being rather run out past the tree though, but the last pitch was outstandingly fun.
Now on top, we made real good time in packing up and stumbled our way down to the river in about an hour. We ended up just South of the cars at a rather nice place to cross. I threw my pack off, dropped my shirt and shoes, then dove right into the river, stuck my head upstream, and guzzled water like a famished cow. It took a few tries before my body let me swallow, and still more until it stopped hurting to do so. I was just ecstatic to have finally reached water, I didn't care that there were 10 000 mosquitos eating my back. Lesson learned: don't rely on someone else's water, and don't skimp on that stuff even though it's heavy. Eventually I refilled my water bottle, and now more aware of the bugs, high-tailed it up to the road where a light breeze provided some respite from those cursed critters.
We fled into Jasper and bought slurpees and mosquito spray. Then, we went to the Wapiti Campground and plead our case of being eaten alive. We were graciously given a campsite reserved for "emergency situations", and actually managed to sort gear outside. That was a task which would have been utterly impossible at either Perdrix or Poco.
On Sunday, we met up with an ACC Edmonton group and cragged at Rock Gardens until it started to rain, then drove back home. All in all, a good weekend. Heck, I let an entire trad route myself! And heck, though it's no big wall, I do feel a bit proud. Ashlar's is taller than Yam, and so I now feel comfortable hopping onto that wall wearing the sharp end of the rope. STOKED!
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| The Chase/Rowlands traverses out left, then heads back for the bottom of the chimney. After one pitch of stemming, it breaks out and right to hit the top. |
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| The whole of Ashlar's Ridge |
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| Roche Miette, Roche de Smet, and the Athabasca River Valley |
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| Lunchtime with the realization that we are going to suffer hard without a good supply of water. |
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| Pim on top with a smoky view behind. |
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| A small cairn where the route tops out. |
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| Dem skeeters be craaazy |
Did you somehow find this looking for beta? Well shucks, I haven't given any! Here's a good
route description from Cyril Shokoples. My update to that description would be that the belay station at the top of the 6th pitch is rather sketchy due to a recently removed piton (hole still visible in the mossy crack). A small angle or large lost arrow would probably be a good replacement. I spent a few minutes trying to jerry-rig something together but ran out of options, there isn't much in terms of gear at this station. If you know how to place pitons, it might be a good idea to carry a couple and re-set this belay. All the "hard" pitches take great gear, and I was never scared even though this is the highest grade that I've led on gear. There's a handline across the river for easy crossing. That's all I have to add, the route description I mentioned is stellar.
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