Lowell-South Ridge

On Friday, August 13, Michael Thompson and I took off for what was my 5th mountain summit in as many days, from the Fryatt Hut. Despite the implication of "Friday the 13th", the trip turned out to be a spectacular day. Cross Fryatt Creek from the hut and proceed southeast up a dry creek bed which leads to the top of the Minnie Mouse ridge just below some rock pinnacles. Descend the ridge into the first basin and continue south gaining elevation at an angle, crossing some snow, to achieve the Minnie Mouse and Lowell col. This is not the suggested route in the Selected Alpine book and does involve more climbing then the scree route they suggest. Proceed directly onto the south ridge and take on about two pitches of 5.5 climbing. There are some old pitons, but we used no rope or protection for the entire day. This climb was pleasant and landed us expediently onto the more laid back south ridge which leads straight up to the summit ridge which lies at a northeasterly angle. The summit ridge was loads of fun, offering multiple routes. There were some rappel stations, but we down climbed on descent. The ridge involves moving left and/or right and up and over. We did not find it overly complicated. The toughest section involves a chimney up the left side of a steeper section. It is not your only choice however. I took 3:20 to reach the summit, Michael was close behind. We enjoyed reading a summit register that originated in 1960 and had us pegged as approximately the 36th summit party. I also found a very old summit tin several meters from the summit from the Harvard Mountaineering Club that I brought down and gave to the Banff Museum. Views were spectacular, Fryatt, Clemenceau and a close up of Brussels, however, some smoke had moved in this day and Robson was not visible. On descent, it was our intention to use the recommended ascent route via the scree. However, we shot pass our exit and ended up traversing loose ledges back over to the scree field. I recommend down climbing the complete ridge back to the col as this route saves considerable loss in elevation that has to be regained on the return to the hut.