Mt. Septimus...Finally
 

This past weekend, my buddy and myself made our third attempt at Mt Septimus (1850 m.). We made the trip from Nanaimo to the Bedwell trailhead on Friday morning to get a noon start. A leisurely hike of 5 hours brought us to Cream Lake on a scorchingly hot day.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373850.jpg
We encountered full coverage snow at Little Jim lake which was still mostly covered over with ice
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373851.jpg
I was a bit surprised to see that Cream Lake and most of the surrounding area was snow-free, although there was plenty of ice islands floating around the lake.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373852.jpg
Although there were several tents in sight around the lake, the primo spot under the giant boulder was open, so we scooped it.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373853.jpg
The evening continued to be perfect and our goal was lit up in the sunset
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373854.jpg
Saturday morning dawned clear, so we headed up the Septimus glacier for the West shoulder. As we passed the X-gully, we could see that it was pretty much snow free (unlike the time we went up that way). Once we gained the shoulder, we got a view of our route up
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373859.jpg
Our plan was to head up the second gully over to take us up to the Rousseau/Septimus ridge for the 4th class ridge scramble to the summit.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/375000/375144.jpg
Once we gained the ridge, we could look down the East side to Green Lake and the ridge above it where last years failed attempt ended.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373864.jpg
We had a look towards Rousseau while we were in the area, but weren't too excited about that...
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373867.jpg
As it was, the 4th class scramble did involve a rappel, but I think we could have avoided that
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373872.jpg
We gained the summit in time for a leisurely lunch with some awesome views of 9-Peaks, Della Falls, the Golden Hinde, Albert-Edward, and Flower Ridge
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373880.jpg
Notice that Della Lake is still frozen over.
We down climbed for a ways, then set up our first rap station. 4 raps later we were back on the scree slope on the West shoulder. Saturday night, we were entertained by a bright and loud thunderstorm with some quite close flashes.
The hike out on Sunday was much cooler than the hike in on Friday.
https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/373000/373890.jpg

Congrats - I was up at Cream a couple weeks ago and lake was still mostly frozen over.

Great TR. Congrats on the summit. Sounds like an awesome trip!

Great trip and beautiful photos. My trip into that area, a month or more ago to Misthorns & Maragret Pks, was totally on snow past Big Bedwell Lake. I think the photo you refer to as "Della Lk frozen over" is actually Beauty Lk. If you can further pan right in that frame you'll see Della Lk with a much larger falls. Congratulations on your summit.

Way to go. That campsite underneath the boulder is pretty cool.

https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/375000/375143.jpg
Hey Peter...Thanks for the correction. Although you can't see Della Falls in this shot, you can clearly see
Della Lake below Bear Pass to the right of 9-Peaks.

About how far past cream lake can you go without climbing gear? We have crampons, and ice axes, but that's all. And if it's not possible, is there other trails from cream lake that we could explore instead?

There is a route which goes from Cream Lake down to Price Creek then up to Flower Ridge. I haven't done it myself so I don't know what condition it's in.

If you want to use your ice axes and crampons, I would make a right turn just before Little Jim Lake (coming from Bedwell) and head over to do a summit of Big Interior mountain. No technical stuff necessary, but a nice glacier to climb.
My buddy and I did it from Bedwell Lake to the summit in 4 hours a few years ago....and the view of 9-Peaks next door is incredible.

Thanks. Good to know for next time. But our group roster has flip-flopped more than the footwear of the same name. And now we have less experienced people along for the climb. So we're choosing a different trail. Thanks a lot though..

Was up there this week. Base camped at Cream Lake and explored the surrounding area (Mt. Septimus, Andrew Lake, Big Jim Lake,and surrounding peaks). On the 4th day we decided to take the Price Creek Trail from Cream into the valley then up to Green Lake. 1/3 down into the valley after a small glacier the trail became difficult to find. Once in the valley the trail was severely overgrown to non-exsistant. https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/379000/379949.jpg https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/379000/379950.jpg
Needless to say we found an alternate route out of the valley and back to Cream Lake https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/379000/379951.jpg https://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/379000/379952.jpg