A Weekend with the ACC

After I got back from Cali, I signed up for an ACC trip to Observation Subpeak.  I mostly signed up because it was led by Reinhold.  That guy has a pretty good rep in the club for leading well, so I thought that this would be a good way to learn leadership skills by watching.

I drove down on Friday, and pulling into the Mosquito Creek hostel, found Reinhold at least 6 beer in.  The guy was lighting it up.  I stayed up and drank with him until about midnight.  He was up right on the money at 7:30 and ready to go the next morning.  What a recovery for a guy closing in on 50!  Anyway, we eventually got going, and started up the West spur of Observation Subpeak.  This was a different way than Pete and I went last year.  Although it does require more bootpacking, it's probably a more reliable approach that's not threatened by hazard like the old approach is.

Starting up.  It was a cold but clear morning.

Slowly climbing with Mts. Patterson and Howser in the background.

Eventually, we worked our way onto a narrower section of ridge and eventually bootpacked up to the summit.  Standing there in the cold wind, looking down at a totally wind-blasted North Glacier, none of us really felt that the glacier runs would be worthwhile.  So instead, we booted back down a ways, put the skis on, and swooshed back to the road.  Not a bad day, but nothing big either.

Cool line off Observation (the real peak)

Views of Bow Peak, Hector, Temple and even Assiniboine

Forbes, Howser, White Pyramid and Chephren.  If you look close, Columbia is even poking up in between Howser and WP.

Kevin is silhouetted against the Bow Glacier

Walking down seems like sacrilege, but it's what we had to do.

Back early to the hostel, we hung out and chatted a bunch.  Trading stories of stupidity and close calls was fun for a while, then we went to bed.  We sort of decided to hit Katherine Ridge the next day, and that's what we ended up doing.

Creek crossing along Helen Creek

Helen Ridge's awesomeness.  Gotta get in there with good stability.

Walking along Katherine Ridge

Bernie and Richard coming up for another lap

Overall, twas a good weekend with some cool new people.  I'm looking forward to doing some more stuff with Reinhold, Bernie and Kevin.  I was a bit disappointed by the type of people who signed up for this "Advanced" club trip.  It was pretty darn tame.  Ah well, at least I now know what to expect if I throw a trip like that up on the schedule.  Good times with bluebird sky though, no complaints here.