Amulet Peak Attempt

The weather was a bit iffy from the get go. Some new snow had fallen through the night and our minds contemplated the avalanche hazards. We left the tent (seen in the bottom right of the photo below) dressed in our puffy best with no expectations of the day ahead.

 

The glacier was covered by 8-12 inches of fresh snow and it seemed prudent to rope up. It was slow travel as my paranoia increased and I only had a small ice axe to probe with....

 

Eventually we wallowed our way to the base of the real uphill bit...If we had been just a little earlier we would have front pointed up some nice alpine ice, instead we alternated between walking, wallowing, and swimming using a shovel like fins. Wish I had my skis!!

 

It was fairly slow hard travel. The clouds, wind and snow blew in, and more than once we wondered if we should turn around. In the end we gained the ridge 300 vertical feet below the summit as the light came to a close and the snow fall picked up. Instead of the dream ramp to the top there were steep snow covered rocks. We were both sure this was the right place to bail.

 

Beautiful area, lots to do, just got to get the right conditions.



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