Glacier Mountaineering Society

Sat, Jul 2 2011 - Napi Point (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Greg Kushnak
Participants:		Allison McCarthy, Jane Hunt, Pat Keane-Richmond, Ralph Thornton, Kim Aston, Ian Aston, Ian MacCallum, Leslie K., Wanda Bailey, Kim Davis, Greg Kushnak

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Write Up:
Napi Point seems to have a history of bushwhack challenges, so we pioneered a new route, and IF properly taken, is clear nearly all the way. The route starts as a two-track trail, 3 miles north of the St Mary River bridge, and heads west to Flattop Lake. The hike to the lake went well, but for the route above the lake, we thought the ridge north of the intended route might be just as good or better. Wrong! It was an open burn with good visibility, but covered with three layers of jack-straw fallen timber. This added considerable time and effort to the climb, but provided interesting views of the basin east of Napi and of lower Boulder Creek. We gained the SE summit ridge via a steep face, which was nearly class 3 in places, passing through many bighorn sheep on the way. Views from the summit were spectacular in all directions! We descended the more-gentle south slope and joined our originally-intended approach route, and made good time on a clear trail all the way to Flattop Lake. But from there, we missed the nice easy trail below and ended up in a grueling bushwhack down to the road, arriving two hours late. The women took a turn at route finding and brought us out of the jungle within a few yards of our vehicles! Great skills! In the group summit photo, L to R, are: Pat Keane-Richmond, Allison McCarthy, Ian Aston, Kim Aston, Leslie Kermath, Ralph Thornton, Wanda Baily, Ian MacCallum, Jane Hunt, Kim Davis and Greg Kushnak. Mt Wilbur in background. (Photo by G. Kushnak).

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.