Midnight Peak (Attempt)
After having tried to go up Midnight peak in early May and being forced to turn around because of the snow, I decided to give it another try at the end of the month. I was once again joined by my friend Jonathan for this second attempt. This time, we had decided to give the west face a try. There wasn’t a lot of info online about this face other than it was steep. Jonathan and I met at the trailhead after work and walked along the north branch of Porcupine Creek until we could find a decent way up.
One last sip of water and we were ready for what was an intense and brutal uphill.
The steepness of the west face of Midnight Peak was testing my cardiovascular capacities early in the climb. It was a grueling ascent. The views made it easier. Here, looking back at Porcupine Ridge.
The terrain was loose and slippery to a point where we had to switchback our way on the side of the mountain.
Stunning views of Mount Lorette to the right and Mount Allan in the middle. The weather was perfect.
After reaching the treeline we were left with big rock slabs and scree. It turned into a scrambling session where both hands were required to stay balanced and keep moving up.
Some sections forced Jonathan and I to use creativity to go around sketchy obstacles like this 45-degree rock slab. All the rocks were loose and sharp, requiring our movements to be precise and calculated.
Once on the false summit, it was getting late. Not that we had underestimated this face, but we soon realized that summiting Midnight Peak required an early start. We could’ve reached the summit that evening. But the thing is, we were well aware that climbing down the same way we’d came up was not possible and would take us a tremendous amount of time. But the north face had waist-deep snow. What a dilemma.
The true summit, to the left. So close, yet still so far!
A snack break on our rocky plateau allowed us to think about our descent plan. Looking at the north faces of the other peaks around, our estimation was that we would have only a few hundred feet of snow to navigate before being on dry soil again.
We chose a northwest drainage as our route. It was steep and snowbound and made for interesting travel. Both stuck in waist-deep cold and wet snow, we almost lost our shoes deep in the snow a few times and Jonathan even ended up getting stuck in a tree well. While we both had a good laugh about the situation, tree wells are quite dangerous and it was hard for him to get a good footing and get out of it.
Once the snow section was behind us, all we had to do was to follow this drainage back towards the highway and bushwack to the Porcupine Creek trail.
Looking back at our ridge on the right. It was treacherous but loosing elevation so fast is a good thing so late in the day. The terrain ahead of us was still steep and loose by moments. There was no trail here and it was fun to make up our own route.
The drainage dried up after a while and made the hike a little faster. Once on flat ground, all that was left was a kilometer of buchwacking through buggy and thick forest full of deadfall.
We made it in time before dark. Even if the west face kicked our butt with its relentless steep uphill, what we ran out of was time and certainly not energy or motivation. The summit of Midnight Peak will be climbed this summer but with a morning start. I can hardly wait for that day! They say third time’s a charm, eh?
