Basic Rock Climb - The Fin/Northwest Ridge

We had four people in our group and started on the climber's trail to Kangaroo Temple from the hairpin turn at 6:30 am.  Once we arrived below Kangaroo Temple on the climbers trail, we began traversing southeast along the ridge,  which entailed some choss, downclimbing around slabs, and occasional bushwacking. During our traverse we tried to stay high to avoid losing too much gain and in order to find the gully between the Tomahawk and the Fin. Once we arrived at what we thought was the gully, we ascended to the col being mindful of loose rocks and traveling as close together as we could to avoid rockfall. 

We arrived at the col at about 10:30am where we roped up for the first of three rope pitches. Initially it was challenging to find the first pitch up the ridge, but we decided to ascend a portion of the ridge with slightly less lichen and what seemed the most approachable. We discovered during this first pitch that there was some loose friable rock, which made the climb interestingl however, it seemed to be the route as we also found the old rap slings around an old tree that has been reported previously. The next two pitches were straightforward, ranging between fourth class and five fun along the ridge (including the finger crack at the end. It was about 12:00/12:30pm by the time we summited, where we hung out for about an hour enjoying the views, good weather, and summit snacks. 

At 1:30pm we began our descent down the scramble route east of summit and then wrapped back around moving northwest back the way we approached. The traverse along the ridge went similarly as our approach but with a bit more choss and bushwacking as we attempted to find an easier path back. We eventually found the climbers path below Kangaroo Temple and continued back on this to the cars, which we got back to at about 5:30pm. So CTC, our trip was 11hrs. 

We did not encounter any snow during this trip. The lake below Kangaroo Pass was completely dry. There is some stream and seep water lower down along the climbers trail.