Sky Pilot - October 22nd 2022

October 23, 2022

Sky Pilot - October 22nd 2022

I've wanted to climb this mountain for a long time and my schedule just never worked out. Additionally when I took my crevasse rescue course in April I had purchased a seasons pass for the Sea to Sky Gondola (it made sense financially as long as I used it once more) so I really wanted to get my moneys worth by climbing in the area. Finally things lined up where Coen went to the USA with his mom and Sam wanted to stay home where I could make a solo attempt. The only problem was that the first rain (and therefore snow at higher elevations) of the season had happened just the night prior, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish, but I decided to go up regardless.

I left Abby at 7:15 and was at the gondola parking lot by 8:40. I waited until it started at 9 and was on the first car. While I was in line I noticed two other people (this will be important later) who looked like they were climbing something (ice axe, helmets). The first 4km went quickly as its a very wide and nearly completely flat trail. I could see snow on the trees not too high up so I was already thinking I wouldnt make it and the day was very foggy. After 4km the trail becomes more trail like and starts ascending quickly. Theres a short maybe 30 minute standard SWBC forest section before you enter the sub-alpine (the gondola starts you at ~900m so you save a ton of elevation).

At this point I was probably at 1600m or so an the snow was consistent on the ground. I started asccending the gravelly / bouldery slope to the Stadium glacier quite slowly. I admit I was feeling a bit hesitant because of the snow and fog and what I had heard of the cruxes however at this point I looked back and noticed the two people I had seen at the gondola behind me. This gave me a good bit of confidence and I kept going. Once at the glacier I noticed it was very small. At first I tried walking on it without my crampons but I slipped a few times so I put the on. This was probably not worth it since the glacier section is very short and can be mostly avoided and I probably spent more time putting them on and taking them off than I benefited. I did not use them on the way down. I was a little unsure of which way to gain the ridge so I waited at a large rock until the two others caught up to me.

They were named Izzie and Tayjo and we ended up doing the rest of the way together We made it up to the ridge by going up the steep boulder field on the right of the glacier and making a short crossing on to the rocky ridge. From here it was a short walk with a couple of fun moves to the crux, the Pink Slabs. I can honestly say at this point that I would have turned around if it was just me because the slabs were intimidating. However Izzie and Tayjo headed straight up and I followed. I mentioned at this point that I had brought my 30m rope and we could rappel if we wanted. The slab was sketchy to me mostly because the hands are mostly non-existent and the feet holds are small so with my big rigid Salewa mountaineering boots I really couldn't trust my feet. Luckily it is a very short section (~20m) and at the top I saw the rap rings I had heard of immediately. At that point I decided I was going to rappel that section on the way down.

After the slabs we went off route a bit and climbed another somewhat sketchy gully that I decided to not re-do on my way down but then it was smooth sailing to the top. There was a juggy long chimney similar to Rexford where we topped out on a false summit, then a short traverse around an exposed saddle to the final juggy chimney to the true summit. It was around 12:45 and had taken us just over 3.5 hours to get to the top. A little longer than I had anticipated but that was mostly due to me waiting for them and being very hesitant. Either way a great success, I was ecstatic that I had made it to the top in the conditions. However we were completely socked in and there were no views and since we had to make it back before 5 for the gondola we headed down.

s usual the downclimb wasn't nearly as bad as I had worried about on my way up and we made it to the top of the pink slabs without event. At this point I pulled out my rope and set it up. Izzie decided to rappel as well but she hadn't brought a harness so she rappelled with mine and then I pulled it back up. Tayjo decided he was comfortable downclimbing it and he did quite well. We made it down to the below the glacier where all the difficult parts were out of the way with a few slips and parted ways. I thanked them immensely for the company and headed down first.

The way out was uneventful except my right ankle was really bothering me from my boots so I loosened it up which led to a blister on one of my toes. I made it back to the lodge at 3:45 with plenty of time to spare and had a beer to celebrate. The weather had significantly improved and I got an amazing view of the mountain I had just climbed. I headed down and back home. Excellent success! Probably the last scramble of the year as I think the snow is only going to get more intense.