Glacier Mountaineering Society

Wed, Sep 2 2020 - Edwards and Gunsight Mountains (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Cindy Weaver, Michael Contrada
Participants:		Michael Contrada, Cindy Weaver, Dennis Eaves

Write Up:
Edwards: Cindy Weaver, Dennis Eaves and Mike Contrada. When Sperry Chalet reservations came out, a friend was fortunate enough to secure two nights and asked if I was interested. I snagged them right away planning to climb Edwards and Gunsight the right way. We signed up for early breakfast and hit the trail to Comeau Pass. Winds were gusty with partly cloudy skies. Mike had climbed Edwards earlier in the year and provided great guidance. It was a fun scramble with route finding, crossing the ridge for easier routes, and of course gorgeous views and lunch at the summit. We were back down at Comeau Pass at 3:30. Our dinner time was 5:45 and we made a decision that we didn’t have enough time to climb Gunsight and make it back in time. Mike had summited Gunsight earlier in the year when he climbed Edwards, so Dennis and I decided we could come back up the next morning and snag Gunsight before heading back down to Lake McDonald Lodge. Gunsight: Same start after breakfast to Comeau Pass and headed in the opposite direction. Little bit of snow travel as we headed up to the ridge. I had taken pictures from Blake Passmore’s description and Dennis had photocopies of it from Mike. Hadn’t researched it much as originally Mike would have been with us. The day before when we came off Edwards, he pointed out that Gunsight can’t be seen from the pass and it is behind one of the points. And, looking at the map, the words “Gunsight Mountain” are more over to the east, and the ‘x’ marks the spot for Gunsight Mountain at 9258 is just up from Comeau Pass in plain sight—too easy. Taking full responsibility here—we went on a wild goose chase and did 2.8 peaks before returning to the very easy true Gunsight Mountain. When we reached the ridge/saddle between the two points of the gunsight, we turned North and went to the top of the false Gunsight. Thinking the true summit was behind it and which we could now see, we climbed down, crossed behind the backside of Sperry glacier and over to another prominent peak in the distance. We got almost to the top—over 9000 feet and things got too sketchy. We decided to head back. Dennis was filtering water in a little pool on the backside of the glacier and I took a moment to look more closely at the pictures of the guidebook. There, in plain sight as I zoomed in, were the words: “from the ridge walk south to the summit . . .”. I called to Dennis who pulled out his photocopy. The word south had been cut off. We went back to the saddle where we had originally come up and it took 7 minutes to gain the summit. But, what would have been the fun in doing that in the first place. Look at all the adventure we would have missed. Those are the ones you remember the most.

Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Tim Anderson at twamontana@gmail.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.