At 2.30pm on Sunday 3rd August, Benjamin and I (David - scribe and coordinator) were adding our names to the existing few in Mt. Willingdon's summit register. The views were stupendous and would have been even better were it not for the extensive smoke.


Benjamin on the summit of Mt.Willingdon

David on the summit of Mt.Willingdon

Christine had been unwilling to summount the final cliffband and was winding her way back slowly to the camp by a pond at the side of Mt. Devon. The ascent had taken us 6 hours from the camp including misc route finding. This was far slower than the summiter from the 90's who made in 8 hours from the car! It was Ben's first 11,000 footer and we were pleased.


Christine near the final block of Mt. Willingdon

Benjamin nears the summit Block of Mt.Willingdon

The backpack from Mosquito creek had gone well in the heat. We found the SC5 descent from 100 meters East of Quartz col the hardest but the views in the Clearwater Pass made all the effort worthwhile. It was a pleasure to share the long weekend with 2 other Ramblers of like mind and maturity despite the age differences.


Clearwater Pass Meadows

Christine and Benjamin camp at Clearwater Pass during a backpack to climb Mt. Willingdon

Benjamin and Christine make dinner at a camp in Clearwater Pass as part of a climb of Mt. Willingdon

Apart from another mature group of backpackers including Tony Forrester, we did not meet any other humans and only a few mammals eg marmot, squirrel. We were back in Calgary about 9.00pm.However I will comment that the final cliff of Mt Willingdon is far harder than SC6. Ben did a 20 foot bit of MN8 (5.2 + exposure), while I found an ugly wet SC7 gully. Judging from the profusion of old anchors (at least 3) above the cliff, most previous summiters chose to rappel "Ben's route" on descent. Be warned.
Digitized slides added by David in May 2020.