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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 10:22 AM
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2012-04-22
Mount Baldy is a very popular scramble. There are not too many weekends where there isn't a car parked at the base of the main summit. The route we did today was up to the south west summit, via the west ridge. The route was published in Andrew Nugara's "More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies" and is supposed to be one of the harder routes in the book. A "climber's scramble."
The route has a well established trail, leading me to believe that it's been used for quite a long time. Though I rarely see any vehicles parked down there. This was my second time up, but the first time I unknowingly avoided the crux described in Andrew's book by dropping down north of the ridge and taking the scree up. The ridge is really the appeal, as it's dry early and has some fun hands on sections.
I was accompanied by my friend Greg and his friend Brittany. We started at a fairly good pace and I had some trouble keeping up with my two younger companions. I'm bit out of shape right now and was still feeling some soreness from the scramble the day before.
Just before we reached the hands on sections, we saw a herd of sheep, mostly lambs, balancing precariously on steep slabby sections. Most likely driven there by our presence.
The hands on section was a relief for me. My legs were feeling like jello. There were lots of friction slabs that provided some fun hands on scrambilng. There was also a lot of loose rock and some care was needed not to dislodge anything.
The scrambling was easy for the most part. The first "difficult" section was quite short, but steep and slabby. It had a piton and it wasn't the crux, making us wonder just how much of a "climber's scramble" this is. Avoiding this section would have required dropping down to the scree gully on the left, which was steep and full of snow. The section required just one difficult move and using the piton as a hand/foot hold made the move easier.
Shortly after this we were staring at the crux. I've heard from a few people that this section was pretty intimidating. I had built it up in my mind and thought it might be a good place to stop, have a snack and compose myself. However, my companions didn't wait. Before I knew it, Greg was pretty much at the top of the crux and Brittany followed soon after. I put my nature valley bar away and followed suit.
The crux was not that bad. In fact I would say the piton section was a bit more intimidating, albeit much shorter. The crux has good hand holds and foot holds and the rock was pretty solid and free of debris. The section was fun and I definitely felt like I had built it up in my mind to be far harder than it actually was.
The summit was only a few steps away from the crux and we were soon sitting on it, taking photos, having a snack and debating our route down.
I confused my companions and myself with the route I had planned to take down. Mainly the confusion resulted from me reading to different descriptions of Mount Baldy's "south ridge." One descrition was from Gillean Daffern's Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, which describes the south ridge that extends from Baldy Pass to Mount Baldy's second (south) summit. The other one was the south ridge extending from the Baldy Pass trail (about mid way to the pass) to the south west summit that we were standing on. We took the latter.
Scrambling down the south ridge did require a bit of care and route finding. Following the ridge presented some exposure. Also, further along the ridge, some tricky down climbing was required. We took the ridge almost to the very end, where we connected with a gully on our right. Again, there was lots of loose rock and some more tricky down climbing. It turned out to be a pretty good choice. There was no bushwhacking and the entire way was fairly dry. Once on the Baldy Pass trail, it didn't take long to hike to the road and back to the car.
Stat approximations:
Distance roundtrip: 9 km
Elevation gain: 800 meters
Time: 5 hours
My GPS route is not complete. Near the summit I inadvertently turned off the GPS device, then turned back on somewhere along the south ridge.
GPS Route:
[Download]
Photos:
            
More photos here:
http://markostavric.fotki.com/2012/20120422 |
Edited by - Marko on 04/23/2012 2:37 PM
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
216 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 3:00 PM
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| Thanks for the report. I'm assuming the Kane route was looking pretty clear too? |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 3:16 PM
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I've gotten some comments on my link to this trip report that may suggest my trip report makes this scramble out to be less than "difficult" or less than a "climber's scramble."
I certainly don't think this is below the "difficult" rating. The fact that it has a piton on the route should say plenty. There were even comments in the register describing people roping up for the crux.
Using the YDS system, I consider Alan Kane's "easy" scrambles Class 2 and "difficult" Class 4. When I see something that is rated a "climber's scramble," I think Class 5. In this case, based on the pictures of the crux and people's description of it, I expected the crux to be several Class 5 moves.
I would classify the crux as Class 4 and the tricky section with the piton a Class 5 move.
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 3:23 PM
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| Arcturus, for the traverse that Alan Kane describes, there may still be too much snow for the down climb between the first and second summit and the climb up to the third. |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
216 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 6:42 PM
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| Good to know, thanks. |
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Calgary, Alberta
47 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 12:49 PM
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| I would concur with Marko's rating of the sections of this climb. An easy "climbers" scramble or a difficult scramble. I have roped people up on the piton section, as they were not used to this type of terrain. Most seasoned scramblers would not need to resort to this. |
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Mount Baldy West Ridge
