Sir Donald (Selkirks)
NW Arete, 5.4
Glacier National Park, BC, Canada
Peter Valchev, Dow Williams
August 1, 2007
Some descent beta here
When people talk about long, moderate ridge climbs, Sir Donald always gets
mentioned. Being one of the original 50
classics, it gets great popularity - and it is well
deserved.
We leisurely started hiking up the 4km trail (with 950m elevation gain) at
around 6pm. The trail is steep but extremely well built and maintained,
and we were at the campsite below the col 2.5 hours later. Setting up the
tent and eating our sandwiches, we were quickly in bed with an alarm set
for 5am.
The morning was cold, but we quickly warmed up hiking up to the Uto-Sir
Donald col. From there we soloed the first part of the ridge and then
simulclimbed the rest, clipping the numerous fixed stations for protection.
We were in no rush and wanted to enjoy the experience! Even though the
ridge is not technically difficult anywhere, it is plenty exhilirating. We
made it to the summit in a leisurely 3.5 hours where we basked in the sun
and enjoyed the views for a while. Note that while it is only rated 5.4,
this is a serious route and not a place one would want to be in if the
weather moves in.
From the summit, we did the new rappel descent
route which is the fastest way to get off. Downclimbing the
ridge proper would also be a pleasant (but longer) option. After
downclimbing and doing all the rappels down the west face, we enjoyed two
beers we had stashed in camp. After packing up, we quickly headed down to
meet up with Courtney and Deon who were waiting for us at the trailhead. We
made it there just before 5pm, and headed to Lake Louise for bison burgers!
Dow's altimeter showed 7800' accumulative gain (2400m)... doing this in
less than 24 hours total, we were a little tired to say the least!
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 |
 |
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the beautiful approach trail |
BC is green! |
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 |
 |
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fat lazy marmot |
Sir Donald |
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 |
 |
 |
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Sir Donald (NW ridge is left skyline) |
about to go to bed |
mandatory self-portrait with next day's objective |
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 |
 |
 |
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Sir Donald as the sun is setting |
slogging up to the col in the morning |
morning views |
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 |
 |
 |
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the start of the ridge from the col |
scrambling up the start of the ridge |
simulclimbing |
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 |
 |
 |
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dow on one of the cruxy sections |
me leading out, photo by dow |
me on the ridge, photo by dow |
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 |
 |
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amazing that i still have some of those snacks left |
dow climbing on the ridge crest |
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 |
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dow enjoying the exposure |
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 |
 |
 |
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dow enjoying the exposure |
me thinking "it doesn't get more pleasant than this" |
posing |
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 |
 |
 |
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somewhere on the ridge, photo by dow |
the leader of another party that we passed |
Sir Donald's summit block |
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 |
 |
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Dow climbing up another steep section |
posing on the ridge crest |
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 |
 |
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dow posing |
me on the ridge, photo by dow |
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 |
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 |
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me on the ridge, photo by dow |
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approaching the summit |
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 |
 |
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views from near the summit |
two happy climbers on the summit |
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 |
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standing on the tip of the mountain with a sandwich in hand |
wow |
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 |
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views of mountains far away |
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 |
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 |
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amazing view |
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me about to throw the rope on one of the rappels, photo by dow |
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 |
 |
 |
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finishing the quick rappels down the west face |
all the rappel bolts had colourful streamers attached, sweet! |
traversing right to the base of the dihedral to do the last 2 rappels |
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 |
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last view of Sir Donald as we go back down in the afternoon |
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