Mt Temple - East Ridge (IV 5.7) with Greg & Dennis

Dodged the rainstorms last week and hit a great weather day on the classic East Ridge of Mt. Temple with Greg & Dennis. They had just returned from a trip to the Bugaboos and were keen to try out a big Rockies alpine climb.

They both have lots of experience climbing, and it sure came in handy as we quickly scrambled and rock climbed up the lower quartzite bands. In what seemed like no time we reached the Big Step and started up the steep and difficult crux pitches, it always feels harder than 5.7 to me! The climbing through this section is some of the best alpine rock in the Rockies, and we enjoyed five long pitches of challenging climbing.

Scrambling at dawn, a few hours into our day.

Steep climbing on the Big Step.

Above the Big Step things have dried out considerably since I was there last month, and we were able to scramble up moderatly angled rock to the start of the infamous Black Towers. Having been through them a few time before, I finally feel like I have found the best way and we were able to avoid too much nasty loose rock. In places the climbing is actually quite enjoyable, and at least the belays are solid! After 5 pitches in the towers we emerged on the edge of the upper glacier and were treated to excellent views of the surrounding peaks! Mt. Deltaform, Mt. Victoria, Mt. Lefroy, and Mt. Fay were just some of the hundreds of mountains we could see.

Scrambling towards the Black Towers.

Climbing limestone on the Black Towers.

An hour or so of snow and ice climbing led us to the summit! It was super nice out so we relaxed for a while before heading down the scramblers route.

Climbing the last part of the glacier near the summit.

Smiling on top!

Not wanting to waste the last of their vacation time, Greg & Dennis flew into Mt. Assiniboine the very next day and reached the summit the day after that! That's some good motivation!

J. Mills
http://www.cdnalpine.com/