Alex, Brayden, Sarah and myself had just reached the summit of Strange Peak and we were now making our way over to Charm Peak the taller sibling to the north. Leaving the summit of Strange Peak we were hit with a fun crux almost right away. A steep section of snow with a tsunami-esque cornice guarding safe passage. We elected to rope up to make the traverse, but it proved to be perfunctory in the end as it wasn’t as steep as it first looked.
After packing the rope away, we continued down the ridge through a few 3rd and 4th class moves until reaching the snow covered col of Strange and Charm peak. Charm Peak appeared to be a much easier route than Strange had been with a 3rd class line becoming more evident the closer we got.
From the col we followed our proposed line up through the southern aspect and had some lovely scrambling on firm rock at the top. Like Strange Peak, we found no cairn at the top. Unlike Dash Peak or Swallop Peak, I am more confident these were not visited by geologists as this part of their map is largely void of any observations/survey points.
This was our last forecasted day of sunshine for awhile so we relished the clearing skies on the summit for as long as we could. To the northwest, I could see a part of Andrea and mine’s Kapella headwaters traverse with Sharks Teeth Peaks showing the most prominently. To the East we could see Mount Collins a long ways away and to the South was a life time of adventures.
Just before 5pm we shifted off the summit and back to the Strange-Charm col. On our return we strayed West and contoured around on snow slopes at the base of Strange Peak. We managed to avoid too much elevation loss when we discovered a scramble route up through the steep rock to regain the ridge.
Once we were back on the ridge, it was a salubrious affair facing the vast tracts of high pointed peaks to the south. Back at camp we enjoyed a fire where a futile attempt was made to dry our boots and then it was time to settle in for another day of rain.
