On Friday, 11 July 2003, Paul Russell and I paired up to bag Mt. Stanley, Beatrice 
and Ball.  First, a little background story.  This would be my second attempt at Mt. 
Ball and Paul’s third attempt.  On Paul’s first attempt he went with Gerry Stewart, 
and while Gerry summitted Beatrice, Paul came up short (for reasons I forget).  
Last year, Paul and Gerry Stewart invited me to tag along, and while Paul and I 
took a long nap on the side of Beatrice, Gerry once again bagged Beatrice, but 
wanted to save Ball for when we all were going to make it.  Earlier this year, we 
had made plans for the three of us to try once again, but as some of you heard in 
the news, Gerry and his brother went missing on Mt. Elbruz about three weeks ago.  
So, this Mt. Ball trip was more out of remembrance for Gerry.

Paul and I met at the Esso at 0500 Friday morning, and headed to Haffner Creek.  
By 0715, we started our long slog/bushwhack back to the headwall above Haffner 
Creek.  Just before noon, we topped out above the trees.  We found a great place 
at 7,000 ft where there was running water, soft moss to sleep on, and a great place 
to set up a tent.  This was right at the upper edge of the trees, where the valley 
turns a bit to the north and goes into an open bowl below Beatrice.  

We set up camp, had a nice lunch and relaxed for about an hour.  Then we took off 
for Mt. Stanley.  We traversed below Stanley (above trees) to a small bowl on the 
SE side of Stanley.  We then found a nice gully that seemed to run 2/3rds of the 
way to the summit.  We followed that, then transitioned to moderate scrambling, 
which led to the final snow slope to the summit.  The route finding up the SE ridge 
was very easy and straightforward.  When we got to the summit, we noticed some 
footprints of people that had most likely come up the North Face, but according to 
the register, we were the first ones to summit this year.  For some strange reason, 
the register was not in the summit cairn, but rather in a small crack nearby.  Paul 
and I rebuilt the cairn to make it more obvious where the register was.  

The heat of the day was really taking its toll of us, and I was actually suffering 
from heat stroke.  I was dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, and tired.  I wasn't able 
to eat, but I knew I had to keep drinking.  It took us a whopping 3:58 from camp 
to summit, but we enjoyed our summit stay with a nice breeze and cooler temperatures.  
Coming down was very enjoyable.  From the summit, Paul and I plunge stepped our way 
into our ascent gully, then did a boot glissade all the way back to the 7,000 ft 
level.  Once back in that bowl, we circled around to camp.  I choked down dinner 
and pounded back the Gatorade, but I still felt like crap.  At this point, I had no 
interest in continuing to Mt. Ball.  Around 2100, we went to bed.

The next morning, we woke up at 0530, made breakfast, and decided we weren't 
bushwhacking up Haffner Creek again.  We were going to bag Mts. Ball and Beatrice.  
I choked down my oatmeal, drank some fluids, then puked it all back up.  I was 
ready to go :-).  We left camp around 0700, and started our trip to the slopes 
below Beatrice.  It was fairly snowy in that bowl, but nothing too bad.  We 
ascended a gully, which brought us between Beatrice and that bump in the ridge 
between Beatrice and Ball.  From there, we went up and over the bump, then dropped 
down to the Ball/Bump col.  We went up the snow slopes of Mt. Ball to the summit.  
3:52 camp to summit.  Saturday was a lot cooler than Friday, and most of the day 
was windy and overcast.  According to the summit register, we were the first of 
the year to summit Mt. Ball.  Paul wrote a little memorial for Gerry, who kept 
saving Mt. Ball for when Paul could summit it with him.  From Ball, we 
butt-glissaded down that face back to the Ball/Bump col.  We went over the bump, 
and traversed over to Beatrice (50 minutes).  That’s when a quick glance down 
the slope revealed three more individuals coming our way.  We quickly summitted 
Beatrice, then descended on the west side of Beatrice to a major gully which was 
full of snow.  We plunge stepped our way down part of it until it looked safe 
enough to butt-glissade.  10 minutes after the summit, we were back in the bowl 
below Beatrice.  A quick break to remove wet clothes, and we were on our way 
back to camp.  

Once back at camp, we had a nice lunch, then packed up and started our trek out.  
We also watched the other group make their way to the Beatrice/Bump col.  As 
Paul and I bushwhacked our way out, the thunderstorms rolled in.  I couldn't 
help but wonder if that other party pushed on to the summits, or if the thunder 
had turned them around.  It took us four hours to get from camp back to car, 
but with each step, I knew that I would never have to hike up Haffner Creek again.