Elevation Gain: 2,063m
Distance: 17.33km
Total Time: 11 hours 53 minutes
Date: May 14th, 2025
The four of us had just completed a quick ascent up Subterfuge Peak and we were now eyeing up the 2440m peak just west and the second of three peaks we planned along this ridge system. From the col it didn’t look there were going to be all that many challenges and sure enough it was a rather tame scramble and moderate snow ascent to the top.
As we crested onto the summit there was some question marks around which was the true high point. The summit ridge was laden with cornices which made assessing the high point a touch tricky. I traversed a short ways to the next obvious high point and confirmed the first point we reached was the highest. Content with our ascent, we built a cairn and then started to figure out how we were going to reach our final goal for the day.
The summit itself formed a head wall against the tame ridge we planned to use below. Reaching it would likely require a rappel and triggering a cornice failure manually to get through. Gabe volunteered to go on belay first and search out the ridge. By some luck the first section he approached was cornice free and offered a narrow ramp below the headwall to reach the ridge line. This happened to be the only weakness for 100m up and down the ridge and we were happy to eliminate extra time rappelling. At this point Garrick bowed out of the remaining festivities and opted to rest on the summit and soak in the sun. Calum, Gabe and I were keen to go on so we grabbed our gear and started down.
I went first and descended the ramp and one short section of perhaps 60 degree sugary snow before reaching more solid slopes. It was a pretty easy traverse over to the ridge and then we had a pleasant descent to the col.
From the col we were off to the final summit of the day: Provocateur Peak.