Trip: Crazy Mtn – Paymaster couloir
Date: 10/12/2008
Trip Report:
In October 2002, on successive weekends, Drew Brayshaw, Steve Harng, and I did the FA’s of two of the finest autumn alpine ice routes in SW BC. But while I love this sort of climbing, it’s difficult to find occasions on which weather, conditions, and weekends coincide, so I find it’s rare to get more than one route of this sort in per season. In fact, often the ‘monsoons’ set in with such vigour that the routes get buried in ‘freshies’ and the crampons (and calves) get a holiday. Luckily, not so this year!
Graham Rowbotham and I had walked up into Crazy Crk valley in Oct 2006 hoping to repeat Paymaster (the best of the pair), only to find a big middle chunk of the route melted out. A big snowpack last winter, however, seemed to have re-filled the gully, at least as far as Drew’s photos of the Plutocrat couloir in the neighbouring valley could be extrapolated. And the forecast, while mixed, appeared to show Sunday as pretty good – so Graham, Jesse, young Marc, and I set off, Marc getting a lift from Scott Pick, who wanted to poke around in the area and do a bunch of mountain photography.
The drive up Saturday afternoon was slow but uneventful, but the spotty drizzle on the Hurley was unexpected and worrisome. After a filling dinner at the Gold Bridge hotel we drove towards Bralorne, then branched off onto the Kingdom FSR for 11km to the Crazy Ck branch. This led in about a kilometre to a landing where we camped. The camping was enlivened by me forgetting my tentpoles at home, but four 5-foot poles inserted into the corners of the tent and tied together at the top teepee-style solved the problem. Good thing too, cuz it rained (!) overnite, which had us pretty dubious about the morrow. Unexpectedly, the skies cleared late in the night after the front passed thru, and it was starry and crisp when we got up at 5:30. Breakfast, repacking, and so on delayed us till 7am, when we set off into the gloom.
It takes about an hour to climb the forested slope above the clearcut right of the creek, and there are plenty of windthrows to test your patience and agility. (Angle a bit left till you reach the crest, then follow the crest rightwards.) A gently descending traverse into the valley eventually intersects a flagged roadline from a decade ago, and while there is some messy bush to deal with, it’s simplest to just more or less follow the copius taping. A couple scree-fields are crossed before one finally breaks out of the trees and angles up pleasant rocks and scrub to the rim of the upper valley, 2 1/2 hours from the car, and time for 2nd breakfast.
The route looked great, although the coating of a couple inches of fresh snow everywhere had us wondering about conditions. Another hour-and-a-half saw us to the moraine crest, and we ‘suited up’.
The couloir, which looks so fierce face-on from a distance, lays back as you get to its base. And the neve was soft and compliant, considerably less hard and brittle than in 2002. Graham, ever-fit, disappeared into the heights, while Jesse, Marc, and I made slower progress. The climbing became tiring in the upper third, as the ice got crispy and a bit less well annealed, requiring more front-pointing and less ‘splaying’ of one flat-footed-crampon, but we three finally dragged ourselves over the top just after 2pm, about 2 1/2 hrs after starting.
There was a chilly wind, but extensive clear views, from Matier and Black Tusk all the way to the fringes of the Tchaikazan, where clouds were starting to well up. I set off down after a bit cuz I needed to get more to drink and cuz I reckoned I’d be slower than the younger guys, while Graham and Marc scrambled to the summit. The descent follows the ridge down west, then loops northeast into the second valley north of the peak. We exited this side valley on the left (there’s a nasty gully straight out the front) to regain the main valley midway thru the upper meadow section. By the time we regained the ‘rim’, it was 6pm, and it was obvious we would soon be thrashing in the bush by headlamp once again.
Getting to the ridgecrest above the clearcut wasn’t bad, but picking a good route thru deadfall-laden terrain in the dark is not possible, and much thrashing ensued. Jesse got the ‘form and style’ prize for a beautiful header complete with half-twist and calf-spearing branch-stub. Where DOES he find the time to train to such a high level?
Eventually we started to get glimpses of the headlights that Scott had thoughtfully switched on below to guide us home, and finally we stumbled out onto the landing, 13hrs after setting off. And by 2am, after a rainy drive home and a hot shower, I finally fell into bed and yet another fine autumn adventure came to an end.
I’ll post some photos when the guys get ’em up. And/or Cheamclimber will do the same…
Cheers,