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Trip Report

On Saturday, January 27 2007 Raff and Josh summited Mount Jimmy Simpson while Vern ran out of energy and willpower about an 3/4 of an hour before the summit.

The details:

Because of avalanche danger on the regular approach to Jimmy Simpson from Bow Lake, Raff took Josh and I on a grinder of a trip from Peyto Lake instead. We certainly avoided an avi concerns because there was no snow at all!! ;-)

I knew it wasn't my day when I did a face plant in the snow about 2 minutes after leaving the truck... So why didn't I summit?

1. Face Plant.
2. Bushwhack from hell. To get to Peyto Lake you have to basically do the hike to Hidden Lake but on skis! And you lose about 100m so you have to look forward to doing this all over again at the end of the day.
3. After FINALLY getting to the moraines at the end of the lake we had to carry our skis due to lack of snow. We couldn't even ski down without skins because we'd be hitting too many rocks!
4. After carrying our skis up to the weather station we had to descend to cross the Peyto valley to walk up the backside of Simpson. Hence we realized that we should have left our skis back at the terminal moraine! Walking it AT boots for over 6km really sucks!
5. After descending all the way down to the toe of the glacier we weren't sure what was our peak. I saw a cairn on one of them but Raff insisted that Jimmy Simpson was a lot further. I lost my will to summit at this point because we knew we'd be coming back in the dark and I wasn't in the mood for that bushwhack in the dark!
6. After going a good way up the backside (about 150 vert. meters from the summit) I took a look at the far peak and realized I did NOT have the energy or desire to bag that one.
7. I turned around after getting Raff's key and made it back to the truck just as it got dark. It was a nightmare getting back because of all the height we needed to regain and carrying the skis back didn't help the morale any!

It turns out that what I thought was the peak really WAS the peak and Raff and Josh nailed it. They came back to the truck in the dark, over 2 hours later than me. Congratulations to them for summiting and I learned the valuable lesson to bring my GPS on every trip so that we know ahead of time exactly where the darn summit is! ;-) It was still a good workout for me after a long hiatus from peak bagging and I did experience a beautiful day in an area I've never been to before.

Outliers of Mount Patterson catch the early morning sun as we cross Peyto Lake.

Raff and Josh come up the creek (!!) behind me after crossing Peyto Lake.

Peyto Peak towers above the approach route. There's some impressive waterfalls in there too - are you reading this Jason?

Raff lugs his boards up the moraine. You can clearly see the trail snaking up the lower moraine behind him. We should have ditched the skis there already.

Raff and Josh taking a breather on top of the moraine before heading down to the weather station. You can see a snow-free Cauldron Peak in the background (on the right).

One of the reasons I turned back was because of where we initially thought the true summit was. A GPS would've helped here! Notice how much height we have to lose to cross over to Jimmy Simpson from the moraine. This is not cool.

Looking back down our ascent route to the top of the moraine. We still had to descend to the valley at least 120m before going back up Simpson.

Can you spot the five people heading up the Wapta?

Raff and Josh pretending we skied the whole approach. Mount Thompson is in the background. We left our skis here and continued on foot.

Mount Baker catches the afternoon sun.

Peyto Peak looks spectacular from this angle!

Josh and Raff are far ahead of me. I decided to turn around here.

I still got in some awesome views which almost made the bushwhack worth it! ;-)

Some more Wapta peaks for me to bag.

Another view of the backside of Mount Jimmy Simpson and the reasons for our confusion as to the true summit.

The late day sun shines on Mount Weed and other peaks along the icefields parkway as I make my way back across Peyto Lake solo, 2 hours ahead of the other guys.

Cauldron Peak with the brilliance of a late day sky above.