Commonwealth Peak Jan 7 2011

Commonwealth Peak
Kananaskia Alberta
August 7, 2011




Commonwealth Peak as viewed from marsh below

Commonwealth Peak is located in Kananaskis Alberta, located 45km west on Spray Lakes Road from Canmore.This was my second attempt on this peak.  The first attempt was late October 2010 as the team and I looked to take advantage of the low water levels as well as unseasonably warm weather.  Unfortunately this ascent came up about 125m short of the summit, stopping at the final gully just below the final upclimb due to abundance verglas and an abrupt turn in weather.

As it turns out, the marsh and braided stream crossings were not that much of an issue, I would however recommend that for people wishing to do this scramble that they bring an extra pair of shoes, or better yet, sandals for the crossing.

We followed the Burstall Pass Trail for about 3km and then descented to the wetland to the right of the trail aiming directly to the drainage between Commonwealth Peak and Piggy Plus.  We worked our way through the marsh where the water was only mostly an inch or two deep,  however, the braided streams were running well and had water near mid-thigh deep.  These were easily jumped across.  

Alpine Meadow

Once across the marsh we hiked directly into the young trees directly left of the drainage.  Up to this point, elevation gain is negligable.  The bushwack through the young forest was one of the most dense bushwhacking undertakings that I had done.  A note for the future is to stay to the left of the young forest and start the climb through the mature trees where underbrush is much more sparse.
After about an 30 minutes of bushwacking that felt like a lot more, we found ourselves in an alpine meadow filled with the marvelous colours of wildflowers and a few bunblebees.  We decided that this was a reat place for a foodéwater break and not being in a hurry spent time admiring nature.  After a relaxing rest and several pictures, we continues upwards and quikly found ourselves above the treeline and staring a scree slope dead on.  Thankfully there was still some snow patches lingering on this ascent that added a nice change from the constant plodding up the scree.  An intesting feature of this scree slope was the abrupt change in scree color running directly up the middle.



View from Commonwealth Col.  Robertson Glacier between
Mt¸. Robertson and Mt. Sir Douglas dominate middle of frame.

After plodding up the scree slope we ended up at Commonwealth Col.  Upon turning around we saw what was arguably the most awe-inspiring view you can see in the Burstall Pass area.  Looking towards Mt. Robertson and Mt. Sir Douglas we were presented the Robertson Glacier in all its glory, including the alluvial outwash plain. We decided that this was a great scenic place for a refuelling pit stop and quick;y forgot about the scree we just cam up.
Upon leaving the col we headed up a gully that was not surprisingly, filled wih more scree and in some places scree on slab We donned our helmets and stayed close to the cliffs as we worked our way up.  As this gully turned left and continued up, it became much more narrow and the scree deeper and more loose.  Most of us at this point decided climbing up the rocks to the left and negotiating the rock spine was easier the the 2-step forward 1-step back scree plod.  This final gully lead to the bottom of a 15m near-vertical upclimb which spits you out on the summit ridge.  



15 metre climb to summit ridge

We tackled this climb one at a time making sure to be very vocal when rocks were knocked down (it was quite loose in locations).  We had our two strongest climbers bookend the rest of the team on the way up in case some people found it daunting.  Overall there were no difficulties climbing this last section, minus some rockfall, which is also why we staggered our climbs.

Once on the summit ridge, it was about a 2 minute walk to the actual summit. Eventhough this isn`t a major summit, the view is exceptional. I would rank it as one of the best that you get overall in the area. When we arrived at the summit and opened the register we found that this really isn`t a popular peak,and the register is the original one left by Alan Kane in 1997. It is sad that this peak is often overlooked however crossing and all the scree we can understand why.

This mountain is definately worth a revist in the near future.






Narrow gully

Summit Ridge

Close-up of up climb



Our summit registry entry



Summit Shot





Alan Kane register entry

 

Midnight Peak - A Temperature Inversion

Midnight Peak

Kananaskis Alberta
January 24, 2010

 

This was my second time ascending Midnight Peak.  My last summit was in the midst of a severe winter storm and had absolutely no summit view.  Located approximately 15km down Hwy 40 and an hour from Calgary Alberta, Midnight Peak is located south of Mt. Baldy and the summit can be reached one of several ways.  During the winter the safest route to the summit takes you along Baldy Pass Trail, up the north ridge, across a boulder field and finally up a broad scree-slope adjacent to an avalanche gully, before popping up on the summit.  In the summer, this route is very straight-forward and offers very little in difficulties.  In the winter, the trail can be slippery and the north-slope can hold quite a lot of snow that makes progress quite tiresome and slow.This trip was a typical winter ascent.

I was leading a group of about 8 people from the University of Calgary Outdoor Adventurers and due to different levels of experience within the group, opted to take the Baldy Pass Trail winter route.  The trailhead is directly across the road from Baldy Trail Parking Lot parking lot and the Baldy Pass Trail takes you up the valley between Mt. Baldy and Midnight Peak.  The trail itself is very treed and doesn't provide any view whatsoever, at the same time it hides the actual elevation gain you make along the 5km trail.  Our group stopped at Baldy Pass for a quick bite to eat and a quick rest.  The temperature that day was quite nice and about -4C at the Pass which allowed for a nice rest.  It also provides views of the ascent route as well as nice views of South Baldy and minimal views of Moose Mountan and Prairie Mountain.

 

Midnight Peak mid-slope

After the Pass the trail banks left and continues up a treed slope.  As you ascent the trees thin out and the view of Mt. Baldy gets better.  On this day the clouds started to blow in pretty quickly dabbing out most the colour in the landscape.  Shortly after following the trail (and clearing in the winter when the trail is not visible) we came to the boulder field.  This short section prpves the most technical in the winter.  As with any boulder field there is a lot of airspace between the rocks, as such lots of chances for a person to get their leg stuck or injured.  Add to that a few feet of snow and this section became quite slow as we meticulously picked or way one-by-one.  One past the boulder field you enter a large open area, in the winter this usually holds a lot of snow, on this day the snow was piled mid-thigh.  After that open are you briefly enter the trees and before you know it, you will be staring an avalanche dead on.  Start heading straight up the slope, however, in the winter, ensure you check for avalanche conditions.  This day avalanche conditions were low-moderate, however, we all brought ice axes as a standard winter safety item.

 

Just below the summit of Midnight Peak

The ascent once out of the trees is fairly straight forward but tiring and the summit is forshortened.  We took turns breaking trail through the knee-deep snow as we switchbacked our way up the slope.  As you climb higher, the view to the north and east usually opens up and you can see Mary Barclay's Mountain, Yamnuska (in the distance), Old Goat Mountain, Loder Peak and Door Jam Mountain.  On this day though, the clouds were quite low caused by a temperature inversion and our views we're minimal except for Mt. Baldy due to tiobeing the closest mountain.  As we climbed higher the clouds became thicker,.   However, about 40 vertical meters from the summit we exited the clouds.  The exit was abrupt and the view became awesome.  The clouds provided a veil, the lower portions of the mountains were mainly blocked but the summits broke through providing a feeling of altitude greater than we attained. 

Summit Shot

The most dangerous feature that you come across on a winter ascent from this route is an ever-present cornice along the South Summit Ridge.  As such I was the first person to ascend so we could keep people from walking on it and potentially falling (a fall may not be fatal, but would definately lead to some serious injuries).  Being 150m taller than the next closest mountain, Midnight Peak offers a fantastic view and is not a very popular mountain.  Midnight Peak also provides the ability to traverse all the way to Tiara Peak along what is known as Boundary Ridge.

For the summit shot I changed into a Maple Leafs jersey and Christine changed into a Calgary Flames jersey since both team were playing each other that night.  

 

We descended the same way following our tracks. 

 

View from summit

Photo of me on summit

Shrouded in clouds on Midnight Peak Summit Ridge

A Wall of Stone

Mt. Yamnuska

Exshaw, Alberta

November 1, 2009

51°07′25″N 115°07′00″W

 

Mt. Yamnuska from trail.

The nice thing about Mt. Yamnuska, is that the scramble route is generally widely regarded as a year round route.  For this reason it is often visited in the winter and in th shoulder season by people looking to take advantage of nice days.  It is this reason exactly that I opted to co-lead an introduction to scrambling session as part of the University of Calgary Outdoor Adventurers.  The cold start to October had many thinking it would be a cold winter, however by mind-October the temperatures had started warming up and by late October, temperatures were back into the high single digit positives.  The forecasted temperature for this day in Calgary was 8C and sunny, which ususally puts the summits of the front ranges around freezing.

This trip started like all others.  We left the University of Calgary at 7:30am and after about 50 minutes or so were parked in the Yamnuska parking lot.  As we geared up with our helmets, poles and microspikes, we confirmed that we were taking the east to west route and being an introductory outing debriefed all members on what to expect.  We explained that the east to west route, albeit slightly harder, is much more fun and is an actual scarmble as opposed to a scree hike and includes descending scree as opposed to ascending it.

 

Typical trail through trees

From the parking lot we headed to the trailhead about 50m down the road just past the boom gate.  This is a very broad trail that in warm weather can be quite busy as hikers, scramblers and climbers all share the first portion.  The warmer weather the few days prior had melted ont he lower trail making the hike through the trees up the ridge quite uneventful but nice as this traill can get very slippery in winter and shoulder season.  The trail rus mainly through trees, however, about half way up the ridge the path clears and provices a nice vista of the mountains to the south such as Barrier Lookout, Mt. Baldy, Midnight Peak and Mt. Lougheed to name a few.  It also provides a good view of the prairie to the east. This area is a good excuse for a short break on a nice flat rock.

First break on flat rock

From here, the trail continues gaining elevation and twists towards the base of the steep walls.  Once above the treeline we were staring the rock face straight on.  Here we had to stop and layer up as the wind was picking up.  As we all put one windbreaking layers and heavier warmer layers.  This is where the hiking trail ends, directly in front of us is a chimeny about 5m (15ft) in height.  This chimney is an easy scramble with good holds but the snow did make it a bit more slippery.  It is also a nice break from the forest hiking we had been doing for about the past hour.  Once we went up the chimney one at a time, we were all standing on the backside of the mountain, the view was now blocked to the south, but the view to the north had opened, we were also now finished with conventional hiking and in the realm of off-trail hiking and scrambling.

The chimney

In clear conditions (no snow), the backside of Yamnuska is covered with criss-crossing trails through the scree.  On this day there was only a fine dusting of snow and most the well worn trails were still visibile.  We chose the trail that headed up towards the ridgeline traversing the backside of the mountain.  This trail leads to a spectacular viewpoint at the crest overlooking a sheer cliff.  This is a very airy spot to stand and more than the fair share of scramblers have succumbed to vertigo and had to step back.  We stopped brefly for some photo ops, but seeing as the view is similar to the flat rock we passed through the trails, we didn't stay long.  After a short stop we continued towards the summit, the trail is mostly the same scree that traverses a few false summits before we got to the crux. 


The crux of Yamnuska is a narrow ledge that you have to walk along.  This ledge is approximately 20m long and about 2' wide, but there is a chain that is anchored to the wall in several locations that makes this crux easier for those that choose to use it.  On busy days or in large groups, this is where you bottleneck as people are usually slow going across this.  There were some members that were nervous about this, so we decided to pair our group, we put strong/experience scramblers with weaker/newer scramblers with the pair with the weakest scrambler going last to show it is secure.  This was the slowest section as a few times people had to be coached across.  Overall, this is actually a fairly easy section, but the 30m vertical below the ledge can really give some people cause for concern.

Once past the crux, there is a little more scrambling where we droped elevation to get back on the trail.  The snow was piled here and it made the rock a little slippery and slower than normal, however, since everyone had already done the crux just prior, confidence was running high and members.  After this there is a little more traversing and within a short period of time we were on the summit ridge.  The summit doesn't offer a spectacular view, however, it does provide a nice juxtaposition of the prairie running into the mountains and you get a good view of the mountains to the South.  Personally I prefer the view to the North as there is little evidence of civilization and the view is more natural.  The temperature on the summit was a little above freezing, this allowed for a little longer summit stay than most late shoulder season summits usually permit.



Summit shot

The descent trail trail finishes the traverse and is quick as it descends the scree you have been ascending.  As we came down we showed people how to "plunge step" and "scree ski".  This is a quick way to descend.  We had to stop "scree skiing" for the part of the trail that traverses under the huge looming cliffs.  This is sort of awe-inspiring and really puts perspective to how small we really are.  After about 10 minutes of traversing below the behemoth, the trail descends directly down the scree slope.  Using our GPS, both Moritz and I ran down as fast as we could, seeing who could reach the fastest speed.  My GPS clocked me a top speed of 26.8kph (this is more than 10% faster than Usain Bolts 9.58s 100m run in 2008 - granted he wasn't running downhill with the help of gravity).  This goes to show how fast you can descend, the only problem is you have to ensure that you can control your speed as it is quite easy to lose control, which could lead to serious injuries.  Running this speed down a scree slope is not recommended by me at all.

Rajiv descending scree

This is a good location to learn and try "scree skiing" as it is generally a really safe environment.  In fact, Yamnuska is often regarded as one of the best scree skiing descents in the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies.  I personally feel it ranks right behind Nigel Peak.  The trails through the screen are so big they are actually visible from kilometres away as you can be standing on Wasootch Ridge and see them relatively clearly.  These routes are also prominent linear features running directly down the screen and are easily seen from the highway. The scree trails quickly reenter the trees and begins and after about 25-30 minutes of hiking we were back at the trailhead where we delayered, changed out hiking boots to more comfortable footwear, debriefed, had a few snacks made dinner plans and headed back to Calgary.

 

Some other pictures from the trip:

 

 

 

Start of the crux

 

Summit view to the north

 

Summit view to the south looking towards Wasootch Peak, Mt. Bogart etc.