Woke up to rain and the plans of an alpine start dwindled away but I held onto hope that maybe the clouds would clear for an ascent of the East Ridge, a goal I'd had since hearing about the climb. It was a route I felt was within my grasp yet pushed the limits of comfort (up to 5.3 scrambling), and this mountain is so beautiful and shouting to be climbed. I'd never climbed an 11,000'er in the Canadian Rockies, and built this one up in my head of being the perfect to start on!
Around 10:30 the rain stopped, and I readied myself to go. Hiking to the base of the ridge it started hailing on me, but I kept going, as there were blue patches all around the dark cloud covering the peak. Getting to the base of where the climb started the sun shined on me, which I took as a sign to keep going. The first part was pretty straightforward and I felt comfortable retracing my steps if weather worsened.
At the shoulder I got my first glimpse of the East Peak, (yes)! The upper ridge looked steep but I told myself to just take it one move and section at a time. On the upper third of the mountain I ran into patches of fresh snow on the horizontal rocks and in little gullies but I just took my time and moved gingerly so as not to slip. Occasionally I got glimpses down the steep North Face. Sometimes I'd come by a piton or tat for an old anchor reassuring me i was on route.
I made it to the top in 3:31, it was an incredible climb! I descended the west ridge, and the col between it and the lower trail may have been the most taxing part of the entire day. It was full of loose scree. At the trail I started running but realized I didn't know how far I had to go. I hadn't paid attention to that in my route planning. I got to the Tonquin Valley Trail where I ran into Charlie and Logan on a hike. I gave them a quick trip report and then scurried on my way to finish the horseshoe.
Prior to my climb I'd looked up the FKT and seen only men’s times. My guess is it’s been done faster than what I did today by another woman as I wasn’t really pushing it, and took many breaks for photos, layers, and simply catching my breath (turns out I’ve lost my Colorado lungs after all this low altitude travel). That said, maybe I’ll submit it to encourage other women to get after it and challenge themselves. What a wonderful day, and beautiful climb! Goal accomplished.