June 15, 2024
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
It was an excellent day in the mountains despite the weather’s best efforts to confuse us.
While we had dreams of much grander mountains, because of the crappy forecast, we decided to reroute and head over to Mount McQuillan. I’ve done this before from Father and son Lake, but this time we wanted to do it a little bit different. From previous research, I knew that there was an easier route from the north ridge.
Once we hit the end of the road, we found a narrow footpath that let us most of the way over not much more than simple hiking terrain.
Around 1350 m we hit snow, including at least several inches of fresh snow. The soft conditions made it ideal for booting quick steps up to the summit ridge and after a light scramble we found ourselves on the summit.
I’d like to say we enjoyed our time on the summit, but the weather was changing. We had moments of pure, blissful sun, hail, and some sideways snow.
We backtracked the way we came, and found ourselves back at the vehicle in less than five hours.