Second Attempt: April 2-3 2018
We were lucky to have the flexibility to wait for another weather window for our second try; this time, as a team of three, with good friend and mountaineer Vern Stice added to the adventure. Our plan was to bring all our gear for a high camp – just in case the route was not as straight-forward as we’d hoped. Landing once again at Wolverine Camp, we started up the snow slope in cold winter conditions.
Pascale making her way up to the west ridge.
We reached our high camp, and the sun – it was a c-c-cold start!!! We named it Shark Fin camp for its obvious feature.
Shark Fin camp at 8,737ft on the north shoulder of the west ridge of Jeannette Peak.
We put up our camp in a spot relatively free from cornice fall and avalanche run outs and promptly set out towards the summit. The west ridge looked snowy enough to attempt, thereby avoiding our original plan to climb a few pitches up the summit’s northwest ice face.
Soon we were detoured by an icefall and chose to gain the ridge sooner rather than later, fully expecting some rock crux to turn us around. At every little rock high point, we were delighted to find a way around. The thrill of exploring a new route was super high at this point.
Vern Stice and Pascale Marceau ascending the west ridge towards the summit.
Jeannette has two small summit plateaus. Unsure which was the actual summit, we went to both. We determined that the east summit was slightly higher.
The summit of Jeannette Peak; the right being slightly higher than the left.
On April 2, 2018, at 5:10 p.m. PST, we reached the summit of Jeannette Peak (3,089meters) via the northwest shoulder and west ridge.
Canadians Vern Stice, Pascale Marceau and Minnesotan Lonnie Dupre on the summit of Jeannette Peak in east central British Columbia.