Uto Peak, Back 'o the Lake, and Disk Golf

After we got off the TNF course, Rebecca and I decided to do a bit of climbing in Rogers Pass.  After driving our carpool mates back to Golden, we hung around until her boyfriend, Tobias (German much?), showed up.  Then, after some healthy discussion, we hatched our plan.  Sunday, Rebecca and I would go for a fun ramble up Uto Peak and stash some gear at the bivy site.  Then, I'd have to go back and start driving home.  Tobias, sick as he was, would rest for the day in Rogers before hiking up with the rest of the bivy gear and the two of them would do Sir Donald on Monday.  It was a bit disappointing to miss out on Sir Donald, but it just gives me an excuse to go back and tag it later.

The weather was quite clear as we camped and organized gear at the Sir Donald campground.  We woke up at 4 am Alberta time (we live in the future) and got moving by 4:45 down the trail.  We hit the bivy in 3 hours, the col in 3-1/2, and we were on top in 6h15m.  That's pretty much exactly what the guidebook says time-wise.  I was hoping to do it in 5 hours, but we were both sucking wind hard on the way to the bivy.  Going soft for a week at the GMC with slow pace, good food, and short approaches meant that our bodies were both shocked by the change to normal pace and hot weather.

We pitched out two sections, and simulclimbed the rest.  We simulclimbed mostly because we had the rope on anyway, it was really roped soloing since we rarely placed any gear.  The terrain is mostly rather easy with a couple steps that make you pay attention for a second.

The view from the lower bivy

Morning beta pic of our descent route.  We descended to the low point, then took the snow and scree down.

Rebecca at the Uto/Sir Donald col, Uto ahead.

This beautiful view followed us all day

The NE Ridge of Sir Donald

Rebecca scrambling up

One of the steps that we pitched out

Sir Donald from the summit of Uto

Looking North

Rebecca with Sir Donald behind

Swiss Peaks

Mt. Booney?

Goodsirs

Setting up the camera mount.

On the snow flats en route back to the bivy

Sir Donald from the lower bivy

Another beautiful vista from the low bivy

From the top, we traversed over to the N ridge and went down.  We rappelled twice off pre-existing anchors and downclimbed the third rappel.  The whole thing could be downclimbed by staying on the ridge at the first rappel anchor, but would involve significant exposure.  We hit a scree gully and moved down to the snow slopes which we carefully traversed and then glissaded without ice axes (we didn't haul ours).  In the blazing heat, Rebecca even lied down in the snow to try and cool off.  It took us 2 hours from the summit back to the lower bivy.  Again, this wasn't going at full blast.  I was feeling 100% now, but the weather was clear, the sun warm, and the company good.  Why rush?

Back at the bivy site, we downed some food and water before I headed off.  I hiked back down to the cars in about 2 hours, then drove over the Lake Louise.  I knew that a few buddies from the UAOC were cragging there for the day, so I made a couple phone calls and actually got through!  Turns out that they were still up at the cliff, so I grabbed my gear, guidebook and started hiking in.  Managed to climb a couple pitches before they headed off.  Not anything hard or intense, but it was a nice way to cap off the day.  That was followed by a drive down to Canmore and the Chateau Knight.

I hung out with the brothers Knight for the evening, and it was nice to catch up.  They're always good company, but are unfortunately not climbers in the summer, so we don't get together much.  The inside jokes all came out and it was a good time.  The next morning, after pancake breakfast, Pete and I biked up to the Nordic Center for one of the classic loc activies: Disk Golf.  We're so loc that we even passed a group of satchel-sporting pros.  After a few holes though, Pete needed to get back to town for work, and I wanted to see the family, so we biked back to town.

All in all, it was a pretty fun way to finish off my summer vacation.  I got to climb in two ranges in a day, hang out with good people, and just have plain 'ol fashioned fun!  Can't Complain.