Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

May 9, 2024

2162m

Whistler, BC

Mt. Fee is made of two evil volcanic blades and is one of, if not the most iconic summit in the Sea to Sky corridor. I’ve ascended the lower and easier North Tower back in April 2016 but the South Tower aka. the true summit of Mt. Fee seemed improbable. In fact, this peak has seen only a handful ascents in history despite the easy access and the iconic profile. The reason is simple. There are a few pitches of 5th class climbing on volcanic choss that could make some of the worst peaks in the Rockies feel rather “solid”, and the flanks of this peak are too steep to offer a snow route in winter or spring so the 5th class climbing on choss is mandatory. I could not be convinced to finally make an attempt if not because of the successful ascent made by Francis, Alex and Alessandro back in March. I was peak-bagging in Cuba so I missed out that trip, but on the other hand their first hand “beta” would make my planning and execution much simpler. Francis’ group roughly followed the first ascionists’ south ridge route and their trip report confirmed my thought that the South Tower of Mt. Fee is one of the hardest peaks in SW BC by the easiest possible way. I was going to pull the trigger immediately after seeing a perfect window forming, but I also needed 1 or 2 strong partners.

That window eventually happened in early May. It wasn’t perfect but I determined Thursday to be “good enough”. There was about 5-10 cm of fresh snow fallen on Monday and the temperature was about to go nuclear hot by Wednesday afternoon. I wanted the ridge to be definitely dry, but the 45-degree snow face that leads up to the rock climbing also had to be in some reasonable conditions so I picked the second day of this warming-up. My partners turned out to be Seb Gulka and Brayden Wong and this was basically the strongest possible team I could assemble, as the few other candidates had already climbed it in that first window. To climb this objective everybody needs to be bold and tough, and at least one member (Brayden) must also be a “real” rock climber (not just a mountaineer) who’s able to lead some hard climbing and build sketchy trad anchors. Our strategy was to copy and paste the other group’s route and itinerary but without much sleep, if any. Brayden could not make to Squamish until almost midnight and I was unable to fall asleep before midnight. The three of us ended up meeting in Squamish and I drove us to Shovelnose Creek FSR in my trusty Taco. The road was decently rough with loose rocks and water bars, but the snowline had gone 200 m higher since Francis’ trip, so I was able to park two switchbacks higher at 1050 m elevation. We got there at around 1:40 am and the planned starting time was 2:30 am, so I did not manage to get any sleep, after all.

The approach for this objective was for once, rather easy. I donned snowshoes within a few hundred meters from the start but Brayden and Seb waited until almost a kilometer later near the end of the Shovelnose Creek FSR where we were about to leave the road into the cut-block. There was no freeze whatsoever and the post-holing was tedious even at 3 am in the morning. Thankfully the condition improved in the forest and we also picked up a set of skin tracks. There were still some post-holing on the skin tracks but the flotation was mostly acceptable. By the time we reached the treeline zone the thin surface crust from radiation cooling was mostly able to support our weight, on anywhere that’s not overly steep or close to tree coverage. From about 1650 m elevation we left the skin tracks and started the never-ending and painful traverse leftwards into a bowl. The surface crust made this exceptionally worse because we either had to deal with breakable crust or to twist our ankles very badly trying to do “French technique” on snowshoes. We then ascended a steep “gulch” on the south side of an obvious rock buttress unofficially known as “Shovelnose Peak”. For about 200 m elevation gain we were wallowing on breakable crust on top of pure slush, and the progress was painfully slow. I was not anticipating the freeze to be that bad given how clear the night was, but the air temperature was almost 10 degrees Celsius and the winds were very warm.

The route we picked was about midway between Francis’ ascending and descending GPX tracks and I think our way was more efficient. After gaining the east side saddle of “Shovelnose Peak” we contoured around two more bumps on a small pocket glacier (well covered by the snowpack), aiming at the imposing south tower of Mt. Fee at daybreak. We got to the base of the climb about 15 minutes before sunrise (2 hours 45 minutes from the truck), and observed a beautiful alpenglow panorama minutes after starting the climb. For the gears I took Francis’ advice, bringing two 60m ropes, a single rock rack, multiple 240 cm slings, two ice tools each, steel crampons, full-shank mountaineering boots and rock shoes. Our packs were over 30 lb each but that just illustrates one more time that one must be incredibly fit to do these alpine climbs. I finished the transition quicker so ended up leading most of the snow climbing to the base of the route. The lower one third was all about wallowing in the isothermal snow but the middle third (45 degrees) was surprisingly supportive. To get into the middle zone we had to pull up an vertical step that was made from a remnant avalanche crown back in March, and that move required hauling by two ice tools. Seb took over the lead through the constraint that was thankfully still filled in with snow, but the snow was becoming thin and the underneath feeling was hollow. I gingerly tip-toed through the constraint and led us wallowing up the uppermost snow slope. The condition was the worst here that I had to use my elbows and knees to pad down the snow as otherwise the wallowing could be waist deep. We already made the decision to rappel this pitch on the descent as the snowpack was not boasting any confidence. At the worst case we would have to wait until the sundown to start descending, but let’s hope for better.

The climb consists of three pitches with the hardest pitch at the start. Brayden, being the strongest technical climber here volunteered to lead this crux pitch. We all underestimated the difficulty because the rocks appeared to have lots of textures, but the reality was cruel. The “holds” turned out to be down-sloping and hollow, and climbing was very difficult and sustained, but the wet conditions and the looseness of those holds made it felt much harder than the supposed 5.6 grade. Alex’s recommendation of staying in the corner was not possible. It took Brayden about 40 minutes and several tries using various options to eventually figure out a solution on the far climber’s right next to some previous party’s bailing anchor, without carrying his pack. The meandering nature of this pitch meant the job for Seb and I wouldn’t be any easier. We all had to do some knee-to-waist deep wallowing as well as step-kicking on rock shoes and that said something, and the rocks were surprisingly very cold despite the warm temperature. My toes were numb from the start to the finish and I was unable to pull up the crux move. Both Seb and I ended up doing a pendulum swing back to what we thought was Alex Barker’s route, so my hats off to Alex and Brayden for leading this pitch. The terrain was near vertical and the rocks were as loose as on the Goodsirs, but in the Rockies the rocks were only loose on 3rd to low 5th class terrain, unlike here on Mt. Fee. I think all together it took us over 2 hours to climb this first pitch.

The belay station was on a semi-hollow block sitting at the lowest point of the notch on the ridge, and Seb and I sat there facing each other on either side of the block in some awkward au-cheval positions. Brayden belayed us up while hanging from this hollow block, and then we made Brayden to lead the second pitch as well. This first pitch successfully played that downgrade-your-confidence game so both Seb and I needed a break afterwards. Not to mention that the notch was hammered by winds and my toes were still mostly numb, but improving slowly. The second pitch was not as technical as the first one, but was mentally harder due to the lack of protection and the severe exposure. Brayden did not like that initial step and opted to lead out climber’s right onto the overhanging east face. The holds were more solid there, but Seb and I vowed to not follow Brayden’s uber exposed line. The route then continued up the crest of the knife-edge to the first (smaller) gendarme, where a leftwards traverse on mostly friction footwork protected by a fixed piton from the first ascensionists offered the only viable pathway. The actual (second) gendarme required some vertical 5.6 climbing that felt very similar to the summit pitch on Mt. Cayley. When Brayden finished this lead he claimed that to be some of the scariest he had ever done. That did not boast confidence for Seb and I neither because the traversing nature of this pitch meant the followers were not allowed to fall just like the leader. After making that initial mantle move out of the notch I had to belly-roll for a few meters across what I would call the true definition of a “choss knife edge”. When Francis led it in March this stretch was covered in snow, and I’m not sure if our situation was better or their au-cheval on snow arete. That middle smaller gendarme was also the mental crux for me because the exposure was real after I unclipped from that piton, and the final few moves was pure slabby footwork as the two blocks that could serve as “hand holds” were wobbling. I would say the second pitch here made the jagged towers crux on South Goodsir like literally a walk in the park, so if you can climb Mt. Fee then you are ready for Mt. Alberta and the Goodsirs.

I was supposed to lead the 3rd (easiest) pitch as we discussed earlier in the day, and I felt confident to execute the lead to give Brayden a bit of a break. This 3rd pitch appeared to have the worst rock quality but turned out to be not that bad. I did have to dislodge a shit ton of loose blocks but the climbing was very manageable. The climbing felt mostly 4th class with a few harder moves mostly because I didn’t trust some of those “holds”, and the finish on the climber’s right side of the uppermost gendarme was on some rotten and unsupported snow. Wearing rock shoes made that final few moves rather interesting but at least there were a few holds to grab on the wall. It didn’t take me too long to finish the lead. Brayden followed up next and started setting up the rappel while I belayed Seb to the summit. The true summit was a few meters away so we untied from the anchor and tagged it taking turns.

I suggested to do this full 60-m rappel while saddlebagging the ropes but Brayden was the only one actually with some experience in doing that, so he volunteered to lead us down. The rappel was surprisingly clean and the pulling of the ropes was not problematic. While transitioning footwear we also set up the next 60-m rappel using the existing anchor built by Francis’ team, and this rappel successfully got us through the constraint. We then down-climbed the rest of the route including that crown step that required some yoga moves that definitely tested our men flexibility. The day had become nuclear hot by now and we anticipated hours and hours of swimming in the isothermal snow to get out, but it wasn’t that bad. While that steep gulch beside “Shovelnose Peak” did require some swimming techniques but the rest of the descent was actually tolerable. The soft snow had made the endless side-hilling traverse more “enjoyable” but the cut-blocks lower down was quite bad. We were triggering small slides in the cut-block even on 25-degrees terrain so I was definitely glad we were already off from anything steep. Our round trip time was 11 hours 45 minutes. Seb and I took turn driving back to Squamish, but the traffics back through Metro Vancouver was one of the worst I’ve ever encountered. I eventually got back home in time for dinner and that concluded another successful mission. I don’t think I want to be climbing at this level every single weekend but it’s definitely a satisfying experience if doing for once in a while. Speaking the danger and difficulty of Mt. Fee, South Tower I think it’s in the top 10 hardest I’ve done of all time together with some of the scariest Rockies giants like Alberta, Helmet and the Goodsirs, and definitely the hardest I’ve done in SW BC. This peak made Atwell, Cayley or In-SHUCH-ch feel rather easy. After this climb I had some exceptional respects to Francis, Alex and Alessandro for being able to pull it off with minimal beta, and especially the first ascensionists that did the same route back in 1963 with hardly any modern gear.