Wind Ridge 199533 Scramble on 16-Oct-2025

Very good day, with sunny clear sky and a bit of wind on the ridge. More residual snow/ice than I expected made some parts, especially in the trees, slippery, but most did not use micro-spikes.

It was a cool -3c when we set off from the trailhead at 8.30am but we soon warmed up as the ascent got steeper. (about +14c at finish). Most chose to scramble the crux rock face but a few, including scribe David, tried the alternate bypass to climber's right. With several cms of snow, this alternate was not particularly nice despite pulling up on various trees. All met above and continued to a scenic spot for lunch about 12.15pm. It was somewhat sheltered from the wind gusts but gave great views.

By general consensus, we carried along the ridge some distance before swinging back into the valley bottom with much side-hilling. In particular, I found this tiring but the group were able to relax and enjoy the warm sunny weather. Apparently this longer route is popular, but was not in the original plan, which was a more direct descent that I thought I remembered from a previous trip. Next time I'll do my homework better. A highlight was encountering a flock of sheep. We arrived back at the cars about 4.20pm making for nearly an 8 hour day for 14.3km and 870m elevation gain on my GPS. Thanks to all for stopping frequently and especially to Teresa and Susan for photos.

Coordinator David, participants Jim, Arnold, Gary, Susan, David, Clifton, Teresa, Lenard, Marianne