–originally published by Eryn on her Facebook Account
What follows are Eryn’s words reporting her recent ascent of Splendor. Her final peak needed to complete her Lifetime Climbing Objective.
Splendor! How lovely. I headed into the backcountry for 5 days with Barry Hansen out of gold river, canoed across Matchlee Bay and up the Burman river until we could go no further, hiked logging roads for another 12ish km then unto the unforgiving bush filled with ground wasps and thick bush. People often ask me if i’m scared of wildlife such as bears and cougars, but really is those stinging tiny little *ssholes underfoot that truly terrify me. Within ten minutes of the end of the logging road Barry had stirred up a wasp nest and I suffered two stings, on my elbow (that turned into an arm with no elbow definition) and my butt (which resulted in half a brazilian butt lift.) The redeeming factor of the bush (and the subsequent bush on the next few days) was the overabundance of huckleberries and blueberries.
We broke onto the first ridge and views of our objective came into sight. we quickly made camp at 850m and watched the sunset down the valley. The next day we made quick work up the saddle at the base of Splendor and ditched our packs for the climb. At this point id like to point out that i made the summit moments before Barry which in turn means I finished my Island Mountain Ramblers Lifetime Climbing Objectives before Barry. (he beat me on the island 53 6000′ peaks by 4 days last year) we congratulated each other then left the summit to the horrific overcrowding swarm of flying red ants that had apparently taken residence on the summit. A few rappels and we were back at our bags.
We descended to a beautiful lake with a wonderful view of our next objective: the scissors (a jagged twin peak) we debated carrying on (down a valley and then way up a ridge) to the next lake but decided that we’d rather drink tea and baileys, and deal with that next step without overnight packs. We spent the evening relaxing, swimming (okay well jumping in the freezing water then panicking towards the shore to catch our breath) and eating.
The next day we left early and decided to drop into the valley rather then gain the next ridge only to loose it. Downclimbing a wet gully holding onto alders and shrubs to keep from falling was more excitement than we needed, combined with the trudging through more dense bush and clambering up and down we decided on return we would opt for the ridge. Gaining the Scissors ridge we meandered up and increasing steepness for a final pitch that we roped up for to the summit of the north and main Scissors summit. Unfortunately it too was covered in flying ants and we quickly relocated to slightly lower rocks to eat our lunch.
Heading south off the north summit we did a lovely 60m rappel off of the north summit and then a quick scramble had us on the south summit. two 60m rappels off the summit and we were at the scimitar/scissors col. we congratulated ourselves on a fun traverse then as the day was getting on dropped down the gully towards the valley we planned to transit back to the ridge we were going to transit. Delighted we found a wildlife trail that could of been a major Strathcona park trail and took up up to the base of the ridge. Tired but knowing time was getting on we staggered up the 500m gain where we found a tarn and decided, although it was late and swim would benefit us. a quick splash, admiring the alpine glow, we heading to the end of the ridge below hygro peak before dropping down to once again gain our campsite. we made dinner by headlight and went to bed exhausted.
The next morning we shouldered our full bags and retraced our steps. the bush was just as dense and we managed to find yet another ground wasp nest which left me with some backcountry botox. As I write this, puss is still seeping out my face. 5 more stings (only one on my face) but i refused to continue the 100m left to the logging road unless I inspected every inch of soil i would tread over. The first sign of the Burman we splashed a layer of sweat off then in autopilot, one foot in front of the other, ground the last 6 km to the canoe and our camp for the night. We had thought ahead to stash beers in the river and we cheers a lovely trip! (minus the wasps). The next morning, a sloppy pack into the canoe and a quiet paddle admiring sea otters in Matchlee Bay, we made it out by 1030 am!
