| ROUTE |
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| From the parking
area, take the path to the left of the path to Wedge Pond. After around 20m,
you will come to a fork, where you should head along the narrow path into
the forest (not along the road to the right).
The path is now
very well defined; although for the first couple of hundred metres there is
deliberately positioned
deadfall, presumably to discourage hikers. The path is to the
left of a drainage.
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Follow the relentlessly upsloping
path through the forest (to the left of the drainage). After approximately
an hour, the forest gives way to the grassy shoulder of the mountain. Once
past the trees (see below), keep to the right and take the first
(climbers right) gully (1). Take the right fork in the gulley. This
path (1) is extremely steep and annoying but holds no surprises. A helmet
is strongly recommended given intermittent dislodgement of spontaneously
disintegrating rock. If you traverse too far to the left (like us) and
miss the gully, you will end up navigating a series of crumbly ledges and
using intermittent climbing moves to gain elevation. Quite frankly I found
the experience harrowing; with the ridge and crux positively easy by
comparison. Having said that, I was emphatically re-assured that it wasn't
that hard and it was all me (along with reminders that I was out of shape
and should get out climbing more).
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The ridge itself was quite fun, although as
others point out, it is too short (15 minutes), and not as challenging as
other difficult ridges. Specifically, Lady Mac bears a striking similarity
to the Wedge (steep ascent immediately from the parking lot, followed by a
ridge, and then a crux consisting of a down-sloping knife edge at the
end). The main difference being that Lady Mac has a much longer ridge and
lacks rock that crumble beneath your hands and feet.
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After deferring lunch in fear of
a bowel related accident on descent, we anti-climactically took the correct
path down. Nonetheless.... Hallelujah!!
Solid ground!!
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The Wedge will probably continue to be a rite of
passage into the realm of difficult scrambling. Humble pie aside, the ascent
leaves much to be desired; but serves to illustrate that if you find
yourself cursing Kane difficulty ratings you are probably on the wrong path.
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