hiked  Baby Munday (South Summit)  and did 11.0Km and 1150m    Mood and date:  Aug 29, 2010 Share it on Facebook Embed it in webpage Reads:3181

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Looking for a bit more of a challenge than our usual scrambles, we joined Radmila, Sabine and their friends on a trip to the South summit of Baby Munday, which is a steeper, more exposed and technical scramble than the slightly lower North summit. The beginning of the trail up from the Airplane Creek is the usual ankle-deep muddy mess, just like I remember it from last September. It quickly turns into a dry, brutally steep trail, with the advantage of taking you up into the breathtaking alpine the fastest way possible. Hiking up, a thought crossed my mind that I wouldn't want to be descending this trail in the rain in the dark; little did I know that’s exactly how our day would end. Clouds were coming and going, teasing us with occasional views of the beautiful mountains around. We went up the loose boulder/scree slopes towards the west face of Baby Munday, our destination still shrouded with clouds. Spent quite a bit of time in the notch between the knoll on the south side and the rock separating it from the South summit, while Gerry was looking for a good way around, and then setting up anchors for us to safely traverse the eastern face of the rock. Good hand holds there, but the route got steeper and more exposed further along. Soon, Evgeny and I felt this was too much of an exposure for our comfort; we turned back to stay at the col between the rock and the South summit, practicing rappelling, knots, etc. with Diana who kept us company, while the other five continued up towards the South summit. It was exciting to see them reach the summit and wave at us when the clouds parted for a brief moment! The weather was deteriorating rapidly: clouds becoming thicker, continue reading » winds getting stronger, and hail/snow starting to pick up. We saw (or rather heard) the summiting group rappel twice on the way back. Reunited, we all rapped off the col (first rope experience for us!) and proceeded to descend in snow, wind and clouds along the scree/boulder slopes. It cleared up somewhat and we even saw a rainbow as soon as we were off the rocks. Occasional drizzle followed us down the steep slippery forest trail we descended with head lamps. Home at 2 am. Quite a memorable and exciting experience! Thanks to the whole company for support and great time. « less

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Login to add your comment at 1am Sep 14, 2010 Both scrambling up thinking of how the downclimb will go, and making the decision to turn back were challenging; now I know where my limits lie. Which, of course, doesn't mean it won't improve with some practice! Kudos to all those who are willing to invest their time encouraging and teaching the less experienced. at 11pm Sep 11, 2010 Thanks for sharing. It looks like a very cool trip. Good on you for trying to get into more technical stuff, and also for being responsible enough to turn back when you felt uncomfortable so you'll have the chance to go back and try it again. at 9pm Sep 01, 2010 Speechless! Every picture tells by itself a story.

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