Getting off Mt Drake.
Abseiling the Corsair. This is probably the easiest and quickest way off – provided you have two 50m ropes. From the summit of Drake scramble west along the summit ridge for 55m to a large (~3m) rock, shaped as though it has a cap (it also has a cairn atop). Turn right and descend north for 50m of easy scrambling, following cairns. Turn west and drop down a gully/corner to a double bolt belay. From here rappel to the top of the West Wall and continue abseiling down the equipped Corsair route to the base of the wall (5 full pitches). Continue abseiling to the Satellite Buttress and the névé, as required.
Abseiling the Bamaphone: This could be a useful alternative to the Corsair descent if you only have one rope. From the summit of Drake continue past the large rock (cairn atop) until the top of the Spanish Armada route can be seen. The next gully is the Bamaphone route, abseil down it. From the foot of the route cross the snow slope to the base of the West Wall and continue abseiling (~3 more pitches to the névé).
Places
| Type | Name | Alert |
|---|---|---|
| Face | North Face | |
| Face | West Wall |
Routes
| Reference | Title | Grade | Length | Pro | Quality | Alert | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Ridge, 3+ | 3+ | 0m | |||||
The ridge from Mt Magellan is steep firm rock near Magellan but deteriorates as the col is approached. The section up to Drake is steep and loose. |
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| South Face, Hasell/Graham/Nuttall Route, 3 | 3 | 0m | |||||
Ascend the snowface to the left of the summit. |
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| South Face, Elphick/Smith/White/Wilson Route, 3 | 3 | 0m | |||||
Start up the short rock face to the left of the snowface, then up the rock ridge and snow arête to the summit. A good descent route. |
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| West Ridge, 4 | 4 | 0m | |||||
Descended as far as the final rise up to Mt Vanguard. After 500m a steep knife-edge cheval presents difficult climbing. |
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