Lady Macdonald is now my top favorite summit ridge (and Mount Whyte bumped to second) because of the challenging yet fun ridge knife to scramble. The last 50 meters is rated difficult scramble, and that is the most fun part of the entire scramble. If you watch the entire video on the ridge, I divided the ridge into 4 sections:
1.) FITTING - That's what I call on the first part. The ridge can be easily walked on and you can get the sense of what it feels like, have the hang of it and if you don't like to continue, you can easily walk back to the False Summit
2.) BALANCE CHECK - After the "Fitting" section, you would now want to study your route and the exposure if you would want to continue further. The ridge starts to get narrow. This is when you have to check your balance, and by balance I mean your mental state, skill set, comfort level, confidence, preparedness etc. Do you have enough balance to move forward? If you think you are ready, then you continue to the narrower ridge.
3.) THIS IS IT moment - This is the moment of truth. You gotta be careful here cuz the ridge gets narrower. There are good holds along the ridge crest OR stay on the ridge and crawl. The key is you gotta have to do it safely. Don't rush this section because if you slip, you die. Rocks are grippy so that's a good thing. If you are thinking of backing out while in here, just take a deep breath and CONTINUE. The ridge starts to get less narrower again with extra width available as you continue for a few more meters. If you made it this far, don't give up here.
4.) SWEET & EASY - after the narrowest ridge knife, there is a short downclimb which is not bad. Afterwards, you just make your way up to the summit with short and sweet scramble.
The key is just do it carefully and have your clear objective in mind. Our objective is always to summit and back to the parking in one whole piece.
FUN Facts: This mountain was named after Lady Susan Agnes Macdonald, the wife of the first Prime Minister of Canada. And Alan Kane ascended this mountain for the very first time in the year I was born 🤣🤣🤣