Edward Peak (Lyell II)
June 26, 2015
3514m
Lyell/Mons Icefields, AB
Edward Peak, or commonly known as Lyell II, is the highest peak on Mt. Lyell massive, but not nearly the most attractive. The standard route up either its east ridge or west ridge is merely an Alpine I snow ascent. It’s comparable to North Twin that the highest peaks in the respective groups are also the easiest. Nowadays most climbers bag Lyell II as part of the Lyell I-III or III-I traverse and that’s exactly what Ben, Vern and I did. We utilized snowshoes on this trip and managed to snowshoe all the way to the summit after a successful ascent of Ernest Peak (Lyell III). We could see there were some crevasses on that slope but with snowshoes they were easily crossed. There’s really not much to say except for endurance and patience.
The best view from Lyell II was looking back towards Lyell III and seeing our tracks
Ben and Vern snowshoeing up Lyell II
Almost at the summit
Partial summit panorama from Lyell II. Click to view large size.
Partial summit panorama from Lyell II. Click to view large size.
Looking down at the Alexandra Glacier plunging 2000 vertical meters down
Mt. Alexandra
Mt. Bryce
The Twins and Columbia Icefield
The mighty Mt. Forbes
Looking down at the tiny Mons Peak
Peaks on Freshfield Icefield including Barnard, Freshfield and Dent
Lyell V
Me on the summit of Lyell II, my 30th 11,000er!!
Another panorama from the summit. Click to view large size.
After taking in the obligatory summit shots and soaking in the views we immediately focused on our next objective – Lyell I which appeared to be a straightforward rock scramble. The descent from the summit to Lyell I/II col was just as easy as the other side. Again, there were numerous crevasses but all filled in.
Lyell I which will be our next objective
Descending towards Lyell I/II col
In short time we were down to the col and getting ready for an ascent of Rudolph Peak (Lyell I) – our last objective in this day.
Steven's Peak-bagging Journey 