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5025 Hits
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79.04% Score
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10 Votes
Page Type:
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Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon:
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51.39921°N / 125.50781°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Jul 1, 2006 |
Activities:
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Mountaineering |
Season:
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Summer |
My first Technical Summit
Cavalier Peak is 2640m and sits just SW of Mt. Waddington above the Franklin Glacier in BC’s Coast Range. The peak is extremely sharp and quickly catches your attention. That says a lot, considering Waddington is also in view. It was my first technical summit. I attempted it with five other NOLS students and an instructor in the middle of my NOLS Waddington June 14 –July 13 expedition.
Crevasse rescue practice at camp with Cavalier behindWe had traveled over many technical passes prior to this, but we had never actually attempted a peak. I was excited to get an alpine start and travel with a light pack for once. The picture below shows one of our prior travel days (over Bell Portal to Franklin Glacier).
Our expedition of 10 students and 3 awesome instructors set up camp on the Franklin Glacier for 3 days and 3 nights at the very end of June. It was our first time to stay in one place for multiple nights in about a week. We camped next to a 75 ft crevasse, which was excellent practice for rescue technique. We had wonderful views of Waddington and other Coast Range Peaks. Absolutely no vegetation was in sight. This was quite the experience for me, just having recently moved from Texas.
South face of Waddinton looming over camp.Anyway, we headed out roped up at about 5:30, about an hour after 3 students and another instructor left for an attempt on Waddington. We walked on the flat Franklin until the base of Cavalier. Our instructor placed the pickets all the way up, so that was nice. Here we are taking a break so that our cleaner could give the protection to our leader.
Relaxing in the middle of our ascent.We had a grand time. It was spectacular.
Just hanging out.
My rope team, waiting for pro to be placed.By late morning the snow was softening and progress was very slow. Every step meant you would sink in up to your waste. No wonder our instructor was so angry when we started late! Here is our final push.
Summit push.We spent a lot of time on the summit. Gosh it was gorgeous. There were snow/glacier-clad peaks in ever direction as far as the eye could see – that’s not an exaggeration. The Coast Range is INCREDIBLE. Here is our descent.
Descending Cavalier. The views were pretty lame.So now I can always think back to Cavalier when I summit my next technical peaks. I plan to attempt Rainier this June with two other NOLS students from my expedition. They will be flying in from Boston.
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