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Bella Coola Symphony 4/8Later, we learned that while we had been climbing Cerberus, a party of four Appalachian Mountain Club members had flown in. This group repeated the original ascent of Mount Satan, and descended its south ridge for a new route. They climbed Rimmon from the south, and made a second ascent of Ogre via a new route, the southeast ridge. The Greater Mongol was traversed from west to east, while the Lesser Mongol was ascended via its west ridge. East Jacobsen was climbed for the second time, via a new route. The original route went directly up the west face from the col, while the Appalachian group ascended the west face farther to the south without going into the col first. Our route was repeated on Cerberus, following an attempt on the north ridge. Erehwon, a low snow mass just east of Chili, was attained. Our route on Talchako was repeated, and the trip was concluded with an attempt on the East Ridge of Snowside. The failure on Snowside paralleled our failure on the same route in 1956. In our case, the final steeply rising knife-edge of snow, which led to the summit, was dangerously soft. In the case of the Appalachian party, icy conditions turned them back.
1962The following year Dick Culbert returned with two companions, again following Edwards' trail up the Atnarko River. Going up Pandemonium Creek, they established a campsite overlooking the Talchako Glacier. They climbed a peak five miles east-northeast of Mount Ratcliff and two miles north of Pandemonium Pass. Migma Mountain, the highest point south of Pandemonium Pass and seven miles northeast of Monarch Mountain was climbed via its northwest ridge. Henry Hall's route on Monarch was repeated, and The Throne, one and a half miles northeast of Monarch, was climbed via its East Ridge. A fine ascent was made of Ratcliff by its East Ridge; the descent was made via easy snow on the south side of the East Ridge, and out a valley glacier below. (It should be noted in this journal, it is subject to misinterpretation.)Later in the same season, I returned to Symphony Lake by flying from Nimpo. It was my good fortune to have as a companion Frank Cook, a resident of the Bella Coola Valley. Frank first became known to us in 1954, when he found the scruffy group walking along the Valley road. In 1956 he made a solo second ascent of Nusatsum Mountain, following a number of attempts in which he had reconnoitred much of the mountain. He has climbed from the Valley to a minor summit north of Bastille Mountain, and has attained a number of points on the Nusatsum and Defiance massifs, and around the head of Cacoohtin Creek. Although a solo climber, he commonly carries a rope and hardware, and has evolved a self-belay technique which he has used from time to time. He does not leave cairns or notes on the summits he reaches, but instead drives a penny into a crack with his hammer. Thus even close inspection of these summits is not likely to reveal evidence of prior ascent. Upon being landed on Symphony Lake, Frank and I started in midday for Poet Peak, the westerly of two peaks immediately north of the lake. After an hour or two of plowing upward through scrub fir, we broke free onto open heather slopes. We followed a herd of more than a dozen goats up onto grassy ledges, and continued up a snow couloir to a slight notch high on the west ridge. From the notch it was an easy scramble up the ridge to the summit. The rock on the very top was note worthy for the bedding planes it displayed, the first time we had observed this in the highly metamorphosed Bella Coola region. After a day of rain, we packed across the Fyles Glacier, and through the Valley of Flowers on the other side of the glacier. Following the first part of the route which leads over the Nusatsum River, we camped at The Swimming Hole, one mile west of the Noeick-Gyllenspetz divide. Next day we started for the divide in a dense fog. We were soon traversing around Polar Bear Lake, which lies immediately below the pass. Going on up to the divide, we peered down into the Gyllenspetz through occasional rifts in the fog. Deciding that it looked like an excellent valley to keep out of, we started clambering upward on heather ledges north of the saddle. Still in dense fog, we eventually arrived on an apparent summit. Dropping down from our perch, we continued along a ridge which climbed in a norhwesterly direction. In due course we arrived on another summit, but this time felt that there was probably nothing higher. Lying as it did directly above Polar Bear Lake, we called this Polar Bear Mountain. The following day found us on top of Atavist Mountain, having clambered up its western slopes. The weather was much improved, and we found uncommon delight in simply being able to see were we were going, where we had been, and where we hoped to climb in future years. This day was particularly rewarding because we learned later that, on the same day, a party on Ottarasko Mountain near Tatlayoko Lake had been unable to climb because of weather, even though far to the interior. Local variations in the weather are common in this region, and bad weather one place is no sign that it will be bad elsewhere. We have climbed under blazing sun day after day on the icefield, only to find upon our return to Bella Coola that the residents of the Valley had never seen the sun. We had another day of rain, and then a day dawned clear. Having been deprived of the view we wanted when we climbed Polar Bear, we decided to climb around the west side of it and onto the crest of its northwest ridge. Ascending slippery grass slopes, we rounded the west shoulder of Polar Bear and crossed heather, we passed beside cascading streams and waded through masses of flowers. Clambering up over rock and snow patches, we gained the crest of the northwest ridge. Finding that it culminated in a distinct summit of its own, we finally returned, quite content, to camp. We returned to Symphony Lake, and on the final day climbed Musician Mountain, the easterly of the two peaks immediately north of the lake. Our route took us across the heather and grass slopes of the south face, and then up the rock of the southeast ridge. So ended a very happy nine days. None of our climbs had involved any technical problems, nor had we expected them to, for we did not carry a rope even once. Without exceptions, they consisted of pleasant walks across heather slopes and through fields of flowers, with easy clambering over rocky ledges and moderate ridges. Free of technical encumbrances, we were at liberty to savor the land, to walk the ridges in swirling mist, to relax for hours on sun-bathed summits, revelling in untrodden valleys seen and unknown peaks discovered. This land is one of ever-changing sunlight and cloud, of driving rain, drifting mist, and burning sun. Even the many-hued rocks display a diverse geological history, and our handholds range from clean white granite and crumbling metamorphics to strange shales suggestive of the Rockies. I essence, this is a land of color and contrast.
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