Rainman
Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2012
- Messages
- 154
- Reaction score
- 1
Our group of five got an early start at the Gale River Trail head, and made good time up to the Galehead Hut. The muddy parts of the trail were all frozen solid, but we did run into a couple small ice flows below the hut. Here we put on Microspikes. Climbing the Twinway we found a significant number of ice flows, one of which we could have used crampons on, but were able to negotiate with care using trees, and helping each other over. The summit of South Twin was wonderful, sunny clear skies, crisp views and no wind made it feel quite balmy. We stayed a few minutes then headed off for our destination for the day South West Twin. Heading south on the Twinway, we travelled for about 1/2 mile, then headed into the woods.we climbed some and found very thick old spruce. Very slow going. Eventually we started descending on our bearing and the woods opened up some, finally finding a section of open going. This had taken us way too long, so we decided to head for an open rocky outcropping on the north side of the ridge, instead of SW Twin. Reached this point after 1.5 hrs off trail. Great views from here! Many pictures taken, food eaten, and a discussion of our return trip. We decided to try a more southerly course for the return. The cone of this summit is a thick, but short lived. Very quickly we were back in the open woods, and before we expected, back at the Twinway, only a few minutes beyond where we had started the 'whack 2 hours earlier. We were able to cross the ice flows on the Twinway by daylight, and headlamps were lit at the hut. Only a few minor injuries, and one hiking pole was lost.
