Tim on Mt Gardiner (NOT Mt Gardner!):
“Tim and Dean climbed Mount Gardiner (2406 m) above Place Glacier on Saturday Sept 6th. We drove up to Pemberton on Friday night after work and camped at at Nairn Falls. On Saturday morning, we ate excellent bacon and eggs at Grimm’s Gourmet on Frontier St. at 7am and were at the trail-head by 9am. The hike to Place Glacier is 1400 m and very steep. It takes about 4 hours. Worth every drop of sweat. There is an impressive waterfall early on. Also a tricky headwall just below the glacier that requires scrambling some narrow ramps with a little exposure. Place Glacier is phenomenal. From the Glaciology Huts (1800 m), it is another 600 m (2.5 hours) to the summit of Gardiner. Matt Gunn’s book is very useful. The mountain is a superb ridge scramble with no real exposure. The weather was good. The views were outstanding. On Sunday we set off to scramble Mount Oleg, but stopped halfway there, at a sub-summit on the NE ridge. Axe and crampons proved useful on the second day. To reach the summit probably requires crossing a glacier with associated hazards. There was much evidence of mountain goats (fresh prints) but no sightings.”
