Home»All Photographs»2014 Hikes»Mt. Whymper 08-09-14

Clayton and I ascended Mt. Whymper today. On our approach through the bushy avalanche slope, we saw a family of three black bears. We called out and were generally noisy, which the bears grew tired of and moved on in their annual feast of buffaloberries.
Soon after the bears, to focus moved back to the scramble. We donned our helmets and began working our way up through successive gullies, routefinding along the way. The horizontal bedding of the rock layers make Mt. Whymper a staicase-like climb in places. I found the crux through the black rock band to be quite challenging - particularly one awkward move around a block. Soon, however, we traversed to a cairn marking the final summit ridge. An easy walk up this ridge brings you to a broad summit plateau, with grand scenery of the Continental Divide in all directions. The summit view is fantastic - we managed to spend over an hour and a half on top (lunch, pictures, a nap, etc.).
On descent, we took the south slopes route to avoid downclimbing the gullies. Good scree leads around the flank of Mt. Whymper until you get to the burn of 2003. At first, it's not so bad, but the closer you get to the highway, the nastier the tangle of burnt logs gets. Good balance and patience help to get the job done here. A quick jaunt back along the highway completed a very satisfying loop.