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My friends all wanted to camp and climb Quandary. I didn't want to climb it a 6th time so I opted to camp with them and tag a couple of 13ers climb Quandary's west ridge and descend with them. Drift Pk was the planned first goal, however after the sun started to rise I began to race uphill. I climbed to the ridgeline and on my way up realized I was 2 peaks too far south.
I checked my map and quick changed plans to scramble the ridgeline and tag 3 13ers and a ranked point.
After a bit of westside downclimbing I was on the summit of Wheeler Mtn (I think) and had a new view of my goals for the day.
After a quick breakfast I was on my way back down to the saddle and interested in the unknown climbing ahead. My rock shoes, slings, 4 cams, and 30m rope in pack I figured there was a way to make it work solo. I never took any of them out all day.
Caught up in sunrise I took this buttress as a invigorating start to the day a few hundred feet of solid rock up to the ridgeline, the snowfield was 100% solid ice and I just avoided it completely.
Talus below, bright sun warming me, it was time to climb, move and enjoy the am.
After this high point the remaining scramble to Drift Pk was much easier and fully viewable.
I've become very fond of long ridge scrambles, peak bagging along the way.
From the summit of Drift Pk there is a Notch to the north I had no interest in tangoing with, so I descended to the upper basin to traverse to Fletcher.
After a short talus hike I was on the 4th 13er of the day!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
But you may have been on the summit just to the north of the actual summit of Wheeler. The real summit has a small cairn and register. When we there in June we had a debate over which summit was right until we kept exploring south. That buttress must have been interesting! That gully next to it was our snow climb back in June. In your 3rd pic the actual summit is the farthest one south (far left).
I added a picture from what I think is that further south summit (4th pic)
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