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Mount Amery | 2012-09-15
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Raff, Will, and I went to a peak which not many party visits. However for us, Vern and Eric have been there few weeks ago and we could use their report (Vern's and Eric's). Unfortunately we had a good weather but didn't have any visibility like their trip. I guess there must have been a forest fire somewhere.
To Basecamp:
We parked at Sunset Pass parking. The first trouble was fording Saskatchewan River and Alexandra River. Probably we had to dip in our pretty foot 10 times to brutally cold river, but most of the time, they were only few meters wide and less then knee deep. However 2 or 3 crossing were 15 to 20 m wide and above knee deep. By the time fording was over, my pretty foot was numb but somehow I only felt pain. I couldn't feel how tight I was tightening shoelaces.
After fording, we headed out SE to a creek. Once we found the creek we followed left side, but I don't think it matters which side. The second trouble we had was bushwhacking. When we were fresh it wasn't too bad, but on the way back when we were tired, that bushwhacking felt forever. Eventually we were above tree and find a good spot to put out our tent. Took us over 6 hours from the parking.
Gully:
At the basecamp, we were pretty much surrounded by big rockband. We were not too sure which way we should go, so we picked the most obvious weakness which was directly north of where we camped (see page 6). The gully at the bottom was more than scramble, but few meters right of it we find a line and we could scramble up for 15 m high until a ledge, then we went back to the gully using the ledge. At this point the gully was only moderate all the way up until its end (page 11).
Amphitheater:
We turned left and walked on side slope for a while until we hit an amphitheater after the gully (page 13-16). Then we scrambled up the amphitheater. This amphitheater was made for giants and seats were so big, often we had to scramble up 2 m high rockbands. Because none of them were too tall, I say they were moderate, but if they were tall enough I would say few of them can be rated difficult. The amphitheater ended when it hit a short and wide ridge.
To the Summit:
We followed the ridge. The ridge ended by a big rockband, so we went left at that point and walked side slope along the rockband (page 17, 18). At this point we could see the summit but still had one more scramble to get on plateau. Once the rockband ended we could find a route to scramble up.
We roped up for the glacier in case and traversed the glacier to get to the south ridge of Amery (page 20, 21). Once on the ridge, we dropped the glacier gear and walked up to the summit.
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