Day 4 the Cirque

The Cirque’s towering spires are renowned in climbing circles. There is one particular face that attracts climbers and that is the Lotus Flower. Scattered in the meadows beneath all the spires are a number of climbing camps here to climb the Lotus Flower Tower (800m tall, multi pitch – largely more than 5-10 difficulty).

One of the climbing teams is from Idaho- they drove 1500 miles up, then flew in for the two weeks to wait out the weather and climb the Lotus. Overall about 18 hours of climbing, there is a ledge part way up that you can bivey on (which is what the English Group are planning to do – thought the idea of sleeping on a ledge the > 1000 feet from the ground isn’t very appealing). The two from Idaho are doing the up and back same day. Wow. On the way back to camp saw a chopper come in and drop another couple of climbers for another 2 week stint – they are planning the Lotus and another face as well.

We hiked up to the base of the Lotus – moraine hiking, rough, big rocks, cairns to mark the way – the out and back took 6 hours. Lunched on leftover pancakes with PB and Jam, Hummus and pita, cheese and jerky.

Bug meter – boy howdy there are mosquitos here in droves at least a 5/10 score.

Weather – as with every day so far, rain, sun, wind, rain and sun and of course mosquitos…

Todays Menu – the great thing about eating too much up here is that we don’t have to carry it back down tomorrow. Pancakes and muesli !!!

Now back resting in camp – big bucket of tea. Chilling and listening to Rob play guitar – did I fail to mention that he humped a guitar up that ridiculous hike yesterday??? Crazy boy – that is his new name…..Made for magic in camp.

Had another Shippam – Ross moment. I was in my tent and heard some buzzing and when I opened the vent there were about 100 wasps between my tent and the fly – a bit of an issue given my allergy. Dale took the fly off and shoed them away – otherwise I think I would be stuck in the tent for the duration of the trip.

Dinner tonight salad and curry – then we head back down to Glacier Lake tomorrow!!

Mike and Perry climbing

Perry and Heather

The Lotus Flower Tower