We reached the head of the Fleming onto the plateau on 30th December at an altitude of about 6,000 ft. It would take a couple of days to adjust to this height. 50 years later it is hard to recall details of the climb and we only have three or four photos. We are not even 100% sure the one of the mountain massif is actually Mt. Faith so we encourage anyone with photos of the mountain to send them in.
Based on the sledge report and diaries, on Jan. 6th we had geologised along the north ridge of Faith returning late morning. At that time of year we avoided the blistering sun by sleeping during the heat of the day and working at nights.
We were awake again by 11 pm but there was wind and zero viz. It began clearing up about 3 am
next morning and we were away by 3:30.
We drove to the col between Faith and Charity and Ali and I climbed a south peak of Faith chipping at rocks while Steve investigated a route through the col to the east but found it too steep and crevassed for a feasible route. We then moved to the foot of a SW ridge and leaving the teams there started climbing at around 7 am. Ali found some quartz and Cairngorm-like crystals on a rock outcrop near the start.
We climbed the narrow and steepish ridge in excellent weather though cold at -16 C. It was an interesting and fun ridge to climb and the photos show us unroped so was likely not too serious.
This curved round a hanging glacier either to join, or become, a west ridge rising to the summit plateau which was fairly steep with a few holes. We reached the summit after about five hours of
climbing.
There were great views all around especially to the Elands and the east coast. We avoided descent of the ridge by going further to the south and down an easier route though found a few nasty crevasses, and were back in camp by 4 pm.
Brian Hill