1981, August: Mts. Robson, Resplendent, Sir Donald

Alan Durfee, Sandy Kline, David Nebel, and I drove up from Seattle to attempt the Kain Face. We never got close, but we did summit Mt. Resplendent (11237 feet). After that somewhat unsuccessful 6-day trip, we headed to Rogers Pass to try the famous northwest ridge of Mt. Sir Donald. After arriving at camp, Sandy, Alan, and I climbed Uto; pleasant and easy.

The next day we did ascend the beautiful Sir Donald route, with Alan and Sandy doing all the leading. But our decision to descend via the route of the first ascenders (the south ridge) proved problematic. Quoting from David’s diary:

“Consensus was to descend the south arete. Much more snow and loose crummy rock. Reached rock promontory north of the Sir Donald–Terminal Peak col around 3:30 pm. Spotted cairns north. Followed loose ledges down, with three rappels, last of which went through and across a waterfall to a point from which we hoped to reach the upper Vaux Glacier, right below the Sir Donald–Terminal Peak col. Time was about 7 pm. Took two rappels from here to glacier—much anxiety about avoiding moat, which turned out not to be a problem. Was dark when reached glacier. Everyone but Stan had headlamps. We thought we could simply walk off. Upper Vaux was steep but easy going…. Soon reached steeper section, requiring belays, leading down to icy, crevassed area. Couldn’t see much of anything. 10:00 to 10:30 pm. NO CRAMPONS. A party across the valley on the moraine yelled ‘Go toward the mountain.’ Climbed back up to flatter ground; picked way through/over crevasses; reached a moat. Bivied on flat snow/ice ledge. Midnight…. Began climbing again around 5:30 am. Did two rappels off ice horns—snow was very hard…. Easy exit to scree near top of moraine after backing down fairly steep, icy section. Finally off glacier at 8 am; at Wheeler Hut by 11:30 am. Moral: when contemplating walking off a glacier, always take crampons.”