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CHRIS' PHOTO JOURNAL
26th-30th July 08 - Success Lakes, Part 4
That afternoon, Jan and I decided to look for a route out.
First we had to wade the creek, which was quite slippery because of the glacial silt.
We soon found a way through the bush and started to climb a rockslide.
There were big boulders but it was nothing like the awful rockslide we had negotiated the day before.
(This is Woolly-leafed Arnica, by the way, not the more common Mountain Arnica.)
After a couple of hours we topped a saddle and had a wonderful view of part of the Monarch Icefield
and the head of the Talchako Glacier.
The picture cannot convey the grandeur.
And the wind was bitter.
The saddle ended in a cliff. There was no way out in that direction.The following morning we tried another route.
(You can see the tiny red dot of the tent.)
And once again, we got a wonderful view of the Talchako Glacier,
But everywhere we tried to go we ran into dangerous moraines and cliffs.
I really did not know how to get out of there.
The next day was pretty rainy and miserable.
Paul's ankle was still very swollen.
We had no way out, no phone, and no way of letting anyone know that we were in difficulties.
My only hope was one of Tweedsmuir Air's flight-seeing tours.
They would come overhead.
We made a big cross on the rocks of spare red clothing and orange garbage bags.
The plan was to frantically wave red garments when we saw a plane.
The morning of the 30th was still rainy, but the mountains were a little clearer.
And sure enough, over came one of Tweedsmuir Air's planes.
It saw us at once - the pilot would know that we should not be there any more.
He circled twice then swooped off to Nimpo.
I figured it would take at least two hours for a helicopter to arrive.
We tied the dogs and packed up the camp so that the tents and tarps would not get sucked up by the rotors.
We waited many hours.
Then suddenly, there was a chopper.
It was not the one from Hagensborg, but an RCMP helicopter that had flown all the way from Kamloops
He could not get us all in the chopper at once,
so he ran me and the dogs home first and dropped us in the meadow behind my cabins.
I do not think I will be offering this trip as part of the Nuk Tessli Alpine Experience!
Unless the clients are prepared to pay for a helicopter ride both ways!
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