Allan Mathies and I ventured in to the Ghost to give this grade five a go. Drifted in roads proved to be no challenge for Allan’s 4 Runner 4×4. One and three quarter hours of snow slogging up a boulder strewn creek bed brought us to the base of the climb.
For me it looked long, steep and intimidating. At this time of the year most climbs are hooked out and this was the case on this day. Three pitches worth went at a high grade four in my opinion. It was minus 27 when we started and minus 14 at the base.The climbing went well, I dropped a screw but found it later and our rap line got hung up but we managed to free it with a pull via a simple pulley system.
We passed a group of ten from THOS walking back to their vehicles and this was a good thing as the road at the top of the big hill had drifted in big time during the day.
It took about one hour to shovel a path through the worst of it, 30 inches deep, for a short section. With Chains on and lots of 4×4 power the group managed to not spend the night in the Ghost area.
Take a shovel,chains and a good 4×4 if you are heading into the Ghost as there is more snow in there than I’ve seen in recent memory !
Chuck Young
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