Sir DOnald Range Traverse

INTRO

The Plan

Sometime during another cold and soggy Pacific Northwest winter, my friend DR and I began planning a couple of summer trips together. DR was keen on checking out the Roger's Pass area. The rock in this area is a solid and beautiful white quartzite. I had climbed the NW Ridge/Arête of Mt. Sir Donald in 2006 (a Fifty Classic climb of North America), so I knew how fun the quartzite is for climbing and I was easily psyched to return. DR's idea: What about we traverse the entire Sir Donald Range? We'll start with Mount Macdonald, then continue over Avalanche Mountain, Eagle Peak, Uto Peak, climb the classic NW Ridge of Mount Sir Donald, and finish on Terminal. This would be over 12km of high ridgeline, with terrain involving a lot of 3rd and 4th and easy 5th; the technical crux would be the start of the traverse: the NW Ridge Integral (5.8) of Macdonald. It sounded pretty awesome. 

[Interestingly enough, it wasn't until after DR and I successfully executed the traverse from MacDonald to Terminal and I was home writing this trip report that I came across an online article: "Revelstoke team completes one day traverse of Sir Donald range"—just the summer before, in July 2017, the traverse had been done in a single 23-hour push by Greg Hill, Andrew McNab, Chris Rubens, and Dave Sproule. The referenced article suggests that this July 2017 trip might have been the first time the traverse was done in one shot. If that is true, DR and I might be the second party to have done the traverse in its entirety. I believe that DR and I took the same route as the Revelstoke team on all parts of the traverse except the route up MacDonald at the beginning of the adventure. DR and I climbed the NW Ridge Integral (5.8), while the Revelstoke team probably climbed the Herdman Couloir Route (4th) (the article does not make it clear which route they did, but this is what I am guessing since this is the quickest way to the summit and can be done more safely than the NW Ridge in the dark without a rope). The NW Ridge Integral was the most technical climbing DR and I did on the traverse—it was sustained 5th class up to 5.8 and we stayed roped up for most of the route, simulclimbing. But we were planning to bivy and had the luxury to choose a more time-intensive route.]

Note about our Bivy(s)

Rather than do it in a single push, DR and I planned to bivy at some point along the traverse. This meant, however, that our packs would be a bit heavier (bivy sac, sleeping bag and pad, stove and fuel, more food). We ended up bivying twice: the first night at the flat col between MacDonald shoulder and Avalanche (climbing and descending Macdonald was definitely the most time-consuming part of the entire traverse) and the second night just after we had summited Terminal (we decided we preferred to do the final hike out in the daylight). Overall, the traverse took us 32 hours of travel time on the ridge. We stopped for 15-25 min on each summit, but other than that we moved continually. So the 23-hour time for the Revelstoke party is definitely a respectable time, even without overnight loads. The traverse is definitely an athletic push.

Note about our Rack and Rope

We brought a rack to #3 with doubles in some of the medium cams, a set of stoppers (never used), a dozen slings, and a light 60m rope. We roped up for the following sections of climbing: 

1. NW Ridge Integral (5.8) of Mt. Macdonald, which is sustained 5.6-5.8 climbing. The route is a couple of thousand feet of climbing, so we simulclimbed to save time; we had a couple of micro traxions which made simulclimbing safer.

2. A short exposed step between Macdonald and Macdonald shoulder. Perhaps 5.7ish.

We rappelled about 10 times, most raps being around 25m. We rappelled at the following locations: 

1. SW Ridge of Macdonald (3 raps)

2. SW Ridge of Uto (2 raps)

3. S Ridge of Sir Donald (4-5 raps)

Note about Weather and Smoke

A common warning in this area is that the rock gets unusually slick when it rains. Fortunately, there was no chance of precip in our forecast. The weather was warm and calm. Unfortunately, though, BC seems to have been plagued by forest fires in the recent summers, and this was no exception, so the views were a little bit less spectacular than they could have been. But the smoke kept the nights from getting too cold.

Note about Water on the Route

Even though we did the traverse in mid-August, there were plenty of snow patches along the way, from which we could have melted water if we needed to. Occasionally, if the geometry was right, there was running water we could access near the snow patches. We were fortunate to find such running water near both of our bivies, so we never had to resort to the tedious process of melting snow for water.

Photos, Overlays, and More!

The following page gives a trip report for our traverse, including maps, stats, and lots of photos. What a fun trip involving 6 summits!

STATS

PHOTOS

The rest of this page contains photos from the traverse, broken down by peak-to-peak section. Enjoy!

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