Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

August 8, 2018

3105m

Sullivan River / Clemenceau-Chaba Icefields, BC

Mt. Somervell is a fairly sizeable massif by any measure but thank to the close proximity to Tsar Mountain, this peak is significantly overlooked. Prior to our trip this peak has only three recorded ascents with two of which done without air support. However, since the decommission of Sullivan FSR about 15 years ago the access to this area had become extremely challenging. The main objective of this trip is by no doubt Tsar Mountain because it’s an 11,000er so if you are curious about the planning and stuffs then check out my Tsar Mountain’s trip report.

Getting to the summit of Mt. Somervell is by no mean an easy fair. There are only two published routes and the original F.A. route is long gone due to glacial recession and global warming. Both Rick Collier and David P. Jones’ group used a combination of snow and choss on the NE Ridge and E. Face and that’s exactly what we would do. Jeff, Lyle and I had spent a couple days discussing the route choices and having already made an ascent of Mt. Ellis helped confirming our decision. The complete NE Ridge was very attractive but we wanted to avoid steep snow for as much as possible thank to the ridiculously warm temperatures.

But even so a lengthy glacier travel was still required so we set the alarm at 4:30 am and started in pitch dark. We had just done the approach two days earlier so navigation in dark was no problem. We correctly found the waterfall gully and for some reason the ascent of this gully felt a lot easier than the first time I did it. The rocks were more solid because the loose stuffs were already knocked down. Upon hitting ice on the edge of glacier we decided to go farther out to climber’s left. The decision was to avoid that sketchy jump-across. We still had to deal with a bit of steep ice and a maze of crevasses but most of them were easily navigable. In short time we had arrived at the flat, snow-covered glacier and took a long break. Onward we aimed at the higher of the two cols connecting Mt. Ellis with Mt. Somervell.

The first challenge was actually gaining that aforementioned col. At least two major crevasses required careful detouring and probing and the snow bridges were very questionable given the soft snow, but we did find a way around. A bit of steep climbing later we crested the col, but right on the col there’s another hole. To get around it we had to down-climb and detour on the north side. After that bit of excitement we were finally on the NE Ridge removing crampons and storing the ice axes. Climbing the lower NE Ridge was mostly 3rd class and the aim was a not-so-obvious ledge traversing across most of the E. Face. This ledge was much wider than expected and upon hitting its base we confirmed the previous decision of traversing all the way across this ledge. The crux was crossing a 45-50 degree snow gully. Even with two tools we did not feel super comfortable because of the slushy snow.

But we made across nonetheless and then the choss part began. Much of the climb on east face was a mere 3rd class “scrambling” but the terrain was not very pleasant. The colour and the layers of these rocks actually reminded me the lower part on Mt. Alberta so that states how loose this face is. However, loose rocks weren’t an issue for the three of us and we made quick progress up the face and crested the uppermost NE Ridge right above the snow arete. The arete was successfully bypassed just as planned. The hardest climbing was encountered on the summit ridge (5.3 ish) but the rocks are generally solid. We soloed the ridge no problem and the next thing we were on the summit celebrating another success. The register has only three entries – the F.A. party, Rick Collier’s group (1993) and then David P. Jones’ group (2007). We made the 4th recorded ascent of this majestic peak. Not bad, not bad…

We thought about rappelling the technical crux but opted to just down-climb. It was fun. Descending that east face wasn’t as bad as expected neither probably because the gravity was on our side. I always found descending choss much easier than ascending for some reasons. To get back across that snow gully we did some body belays just in case the surface snow went. In terms of climbing it was quite easy. And then we carefully traversed back across that ledge and descended the lower NE Ridge. The complicated crevasses issues near that col did require some rope work but generally speaking there’s no route-finding anymore. The rest of the descent back to camp was uneventful because we just did the same two days ago. The “upper ledge” that I discovered worked perfectly as a descent route.

Overall I would probably not recommend Mt. Somervell due to the loose rocks but this is a very attractive peak nonetheless. If you have another day besides climbing Tsar Mountain (and still have plenty of energy and motivation), then why not… Asides the 11,000ers project I was just as stoked to climb this peak as Tsar Mountain…