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Sharp Ridge.
After dropping down from Pyramid, I could climb back up
to the ridge at the lone
pinnacle (at left) between Pyramid and
Aarons Peak, then continue along the ridge.
Alternatively, I could contour below the ridge, and
gain the shoulder immediately east of the summit of
Aarons Peak (up the sandy chute visible on the right
edge of the photo). |
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Tough Climbing.
Well, this sight pretty much made my mind up for me,
as I encountered some very exposed class 3-4 climbing
to get back up to the pinnacle. I chose option
two: contouring over to the shoulder of Aarons
Peak. |
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Looking back at Pyramid.
This photo taken from the east shoulder of Aarons Peak
shows my route well. From the saddle at the
center of the photo, I contoured across to the base of
the pinnacle (the dark buttress seen on the right).
From there, I angled across and down somewhat, then
scrambled back up to the shoulder where this photo was
taken. This was slippery and exposed at times,
but really no harder than a challenging class 2
scramble. |
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Looking North.
From Aarons Peak, the views of Agassiz and Price
improve. This angle really allows you to see the
"diving board" summit rock for which Mt. Agassiz is
known.
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On the Ridge.
From the top of Aarons Peak, I regained the ridge,
downclimbing some easy class 3 blocks from the summit
and continuing on my way. |
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NW Face of Pyramid.
From this vantage point, one can understand why I had
to drop down the east side of the crest from the top
of Pyramid. The north ridge was too jagged for
my limited climbing skills, and the NW face is a sheer
cliff. It did not escape me that there is a
tasty looking couloir (still snowy in this photo) that
I will have to come back and ski one day. |
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Hugging the Spine.
The traverse over to Mount Agassiz was beautiful, as I
simply walked on the spine of the crest indifferent to
the sheer drop off to my right. This part of the
traverse involved relatively easy cross country
travel. The crux of this portion was making my
way through the dense, sap-laden whitebark pine
clusters that somehow grow on the ridgetop.
These wind blown clumps of trees are surprisingly
difficult to battle through. |
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