Wright inside out, January 25, 2011

[BlackSpruce]

It was very quiet at the Loj this morning, parking almost empty and very few climbers on the trail, even with a particularly late start we had the Algonquin Trail to ourselves! About an inch of new snow made for a comfortable ascent, upon reaching the ski trail, 3200’, since it looked like a boulevard and traffic was nil we went that route. As usual the birch and balsam forest lining the trail was picture perfect and we eventually reached the last wall immediately below the summit of Wright. That northern approach often requires a bit of work at the very end as it is steep and rugged (no trail here). Gary took the lead and slowly broke nice steps for me to follow. At one point and 5 yards from the summit plateau I reminded him that to his right was a deep crevasse. After testing the ground with his pole he gingerly took one step to the right... and down he went to his neck. Caught between two rock walls he was dangling above what looked like a yawning abyss, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom (sort of tent shaped where he was but open wide to his right).

Had we discovered an underground alley to the true summit? Gary flatly refused to descend further to investigate... It took more than 20 minutes to get him onto regular spruce traps territory. The only way out of the arms of the Wright Monster was where the opening was not even as wide as his snowshoe which made for interesting gymnastics for both of us. Any other way would have meant falling to wherever the bottom was.

At least the summit sported its familiar winter features: high wind and no visibility! Lucky 13th Wright winter climb it was for Gary, lucky not to be alone...