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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
01 Feb 03 |
incomplete |
N/A |
| 2nd Time |
01 Mar 03 |
5:00 |
2:30 |
These pictures are from the second (successful) attempt. Click here
for pictures of the first (failed) trip, when we first tried to ascend via the boundary cut-line.
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We quickly made our way down Cameron Lake Rd and up to Akamina Pass (as we did on our first attempt). This time,
we followed the trail to Forum Lake, which raises gently through the trees. About 0.5km from the lake, we veered off right (west) toward the Forum/Wall Ridge. Here we see the crux of this route... a rockband along that ridge. At that point, we'd have to put the skis on our back and scramble up the ridge.
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Here is a zoomed in version of the last picture. We stuck very close to the true ridge. We were fearful that the snowslope just left of the ridge would slide if we touched it.
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Here we see Blair cutting across the lee side of the Forum/Wall Ridge, making his way to the rockband seen in the pictures above. The slope he is cutting across is the one we were skiing down on the way back down. Awesome skiing through these trees.
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This is the crux of this route. We really stayed close to the exposed rocks right along the ridge. This added some exposure, but it kept us off the avalanche slope to the left.
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Here we see Blair leading the way through the crux. Breaking trail was hard work. In some spots next to the rocks, you'd sink to your waist. As you can see, the weather was great at this point. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after this picture, the bad weather rolled in, and things began to suck.
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Still going through the rockband, although, we are pretty much above the steep part. Unfortunately, the ridge was blown free of snow from just above where Blair is in the picture to the first highpoint along Akamina Ridge.
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By the time we got to the first summit on Akamina Ridge, we couldn't see much. We took some waypoints along the way, but managed to follow the ridge eastward to Forum Peak. Fortunately, there were trees along the summit ridge, which you could barely see 20-30 yards away. We cautiously made our way from tree to tree until we were on the summit. This picture is of Blair on the summit. As you can see, the weather wasn't the best in the world. We quickly took a couple of pictures and headed back down.
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