Height gain: 800m/2625'
Ascent date: Sep 8, 2005
Ascent time: 2:30hrs From Hidden Lake sk5
Comment: Moderate scramble
We camped at the Hidden
Lake Campground (sk5) for
this 3-day backpacking trip. On the first day we arrived at
the campground, we started with a traverse to Anthozoan
Mountain, then another traverse to Brachiopod
Mountain.
Day 2. Our planned trip for this day was an ascent to Mt.
Richardson, a traverse to Pika
Peak, and another traverse to Ptarmigan
Peak. The weather was not what anybody would want to have
on an outing like this. We had a mixture of rain, hale, and
snow.
Our overall roundtrip time was a very painful 11:15hrs.
(1) Our 3-summit objective was clearly visible at Hidden Lake.
My route to gain the ridge of Richardson is outlined in red.
(2) Ian went farther left to gain the lower part of the ridge.
We soon met and hiked the ridge together. The clouds are starting
to get nasty at this point.
(1) The trail is clearly visible on the ridge. We traversed
the bump on the above photo to the left and had a first view
of the summit.
(2) 2.5hrs to the summit. It was very windy and chilly at the
top. The cloud was also beginning to threaten us with bad news.
Well, it wasn't raining yet so we stuck to the plan. The traverse
route to Pika Peak was packed with snow so we had to hike a
little bit to the right of the summit to avoid it.
(1)
The summit of Richardson in this photo is beyond the cornice.
We scoped the area for the safest route down to the Richardson/Pika
col and it was not easy. The rocks were covered with water flowing
underneath the ice.
(2) Here's Ian and the humongous cornice. From this point, we
were far from the cliffs so we both felt comfortable continuing
down to the col and bag Pika
Peak.
