Spring scrambling in the Rockies around Calgary has always been an interesting game of trying to decide what's in shape and what is still out of scrambling condition. With the prevalence of social media, the game has become somewhat rigged with a flood of trip reports coming out after every weekend from all corners of the Rockies.
Finally on March 10 of 2018 I managed to ski a peak that's been on my hit-list for many years. 13 years ago, I'd scrambled Mount Field in Yoho National Park from a weird approach (Stanley Mitchell Hut) with the infamous Dave Stephens. Since then a lot of my mountain friends had skied the peak and highly recommended it to me.
After cancelling plans for a trip up the Icefields Parkway due to a last minute weather change, Phil Richards and I were at a bit of a loss what to replace it with. We were wary about forest fire smoke as the views from Lyautey are pretty stellar. Staying home seemed like a cop-out so we settled on a 07:00 departure time from the Interlakes parking lot instead.
For some reason, Ogden sketched me out a bit. It didn't help when Alan Kane himself mentioned in an email interview with Bob Spirko that when he went back to look at it years after doing it, it looked much scarier then he remembered! When Mike and Liz reported on a recent trip up Ogden I knew it had to happen soon and made it a priority.
On Friday, July 7 2017 I finally managed to get out with a couple of Facebook friends that I had never actually met in person. I met Liz and Mike at the gate blocking the old highway 1A near the Lake O'Hara parking lot for an attempt at one of the newest Alan Kane scrambles, rated difficult. Kane mentions Divide Mountain in an interview with Gillean Daffern as one of his new favorites.
Some days are thrown off track even before reaching the parking lot. On Friday, August 26th 2016, Wietse Bylsma and myself started our day with similar missteps to my infamous Cockscomb trip and continued to stumble and bumble our way towards and then up and then down and then up Mount Brewster. Ironically, Brewster is Cockscomb's twin across the valley.
On Friday, August 19th I was joined by the indefatigable Phil Richards and Wietse Bylsma for another longish day trip in the Canadian Rockies. After two previous off-trail adventures to Breaker and Molar, Phil and I decided that it was time for a mostly on-trail objective. We settled on The Monarch, located between Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park and Kootenay National Park in British Columbia.
Cockscomb Mountain has a few things going for it. No matter how many peaks you've done, as long as it's more than one, you will have a best one and a worst one. I never have to worry about encountering my worst one now - I've apparently just done it. Another thing in Cockscomb's favor is that I will never ever, ever, ever have to repeat it.
We tried Mount Lawrence Grassi on November 11 but we were turned around by high wind and very cold temperatures at the top. This time Sean, Taylor and I managed to get to the summit. There are no major difficulties on this moderate scramble - there is a good trail up the spine and to the summit.
What a beautiful day!! I scrambled all year to enjoy a day like this! Due to a lingering cold for the past 2 weeks the climb was tough. I had to stop every 10 or 15 steps to let my knees 'thaw' so that I could keep climbing. I haven't felt this out of shape since the beginning of the year.
Another beautiful day in the Rockies. This time it was just Jon, Kev and me. We got to the Highwood Pass around 0900 and proceeded down the path to the Grizzly Col. The trail was in excellent condition and after a pleasant hour or so we were ready to tackle the scree slog to the summit of Tyrwhitt.
On a beautiful, sunny, late August day we set off with five guys to scramble The Tower in K-Country near Rummel Lake. I've done the snowshoe to Rummel Lake a few times in the winter but I've never gone in the summer before. The walk to the lake is a pleasant stroll through some old logging roads and a nice trail over a forested ridge.
Sean and I did this scramble on a perfect scrambling day. The sun was out for some of the time, it snowed a bit, rained a bit and generally just did the mountain weather thing! We started off by parking on the wrong end of Bow River Dr. but eventually we found the right place and headed for the peak. After a long winter of no scrambling our heart rates went through the roof quite quickly!
My name is Vern Dewit. I moved to Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in 1999 and since then I've fallen in love with the spectacular scenery and grand vistas that open up as you scramble up above treeline on a beautiful fall morning, or make your first cast on some back country stream as the sun throws its golden warmth on surrounding peaks.
