| Author |
Topic |
|
Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2012 : 8:39 PM
|
For More Photos:
Purple Peak: http://stevensong.fotki.com/canadian-rockies/skoki/purple-peak-201257/
Lipalian Mountain: http://stevensong.fotki.com/canadian-rockies/skoki/lipalian-mountain-201257/
My original plan of this weekend was to ascend Castleguard Mountain, however, a system moved in on Saturday and the plan was cancelled. The forecast of Sunday and Monday are quite promising, so because I've done school term and I don't have a work, I decided to do a two-day solo trip.
On Sunday, I didn't wake up until 8:30am... Driving from Edmonton to the Rockies takes 4 hours, so I couldn't do any big trip. Plus the snow gets isothermal in afternoon, I ended up doing East End of Rundle in Canmore. The snow storm on Saturday dumped lots of snow on higher elevation, but since it's an easy scramble, it's pretty manageable. The route is very simple so I wouldn't start another TR for that. For more photos: http://stevensong.fotki.com/canadian-rockies/canmore/east-end-of-rundle-/
Monday:
The temperature would drop to -10 degree at Lake Louise in the morning. Taking advantage of the spring snowpack, I decided to do another snowshoe trip, namely Purple Peak to Lipalian Mountain. This is also my first time in Skoki area. I parked at Fish Creek parking lot and slept in car the previous night. In the morning, I met two skiers at trail head. After talking to each other, I realized they are Golden Scramblers. We both know each other on internet, it's such a small world huh. They started about 15min ahead of me, heading to Unity Peak. At this time of year, Temple Lodge Road is snow free, so I can walk up easily the first 4km while carrying snowshoes. In no time I reached Larch / Ptarmigan Chair Lifts (Lk Louise ski area is already closed..). From there, the snowshoeing book says keep walking down the trail for about 1km then head right, but somehow I missed the correct trail and ended up in the valley bottom. For the next kilometer, I could not find any track heading to Wolverine Valley, and I was getting closer and closer to the lower slope of Redoubt Mountain. I thought Josee and his partner would be ahead of me because I didn't pass them on the way up. I started to realize my mistake, after checking the map, I decided to turn sharply right and bushwhack. 15min later, I found I was on the slope of Redoubt Mountain... To get to the bottom of Wolverine Valley, I had to lose about 30m elevation, but anyway, I got back on track. There is no steep section in the valley and it's a pleasant hike. Purple Peak lies in front of me, appears a rounded bump. Looking back, I could see Whitehorn Mountain and the ski runs. To my left is the impressive face of Redoubt Mountain. The route to Purple Peak is obvious. I still couldn't see Golden Scramblers at this point. To Purple, you can hike up either the north ridge or the east ridge, while both of them involves a short steep slope near the top. It took me 2.5 hours from parking lot to the summit. From the summit, Lipalian Mountain, my next objective of the day, partially blocks the view towards the Lake Louise Giants, but the view of Baker Creek area, Protection Mountain / Pulsatilla, and other mountains in Skoki is unlimited.
From the top of Purple Peak, Lipalian Mountain can be easily reached. However, you have to lose 50-100m elevation on the connecting ridge. I took 40min from Purple to Lipalian. From the summit, you gonna have unlimited view towards the continental divide, from Ball, Storm, to Bident, Quadra, Fay, Bowlen, Little, Deltaform, Hungabee, Lefroy, Victoria, to Bosworth, Daly and Balfour. In front of them is the biggest one, Mount Temple. Gosh, Temple looks really big from here, I started to wonder how did I manage to summit it and back within 7.5 hours in last September.
It was only 9:20AM, so that means I still had lots of time. I decided to traverse to Unity Peak. The first thing to do is to get back to Purple. From Purple Peak, I descent the ridge connecting Purple to Unity. From the col, the route described in Chic Scott's Summit and Icefields looks pretty avalanche prone, since I was soloing, I didn't want to take a chance, so I headed back down Purple Bowl. There're some steep slopes too. I knew Josee and his partner ascent Unity from an alternative route, and I started to look for their tracks. I could even here their voices up on the ridge, but I couldn't find any ski tracks, except for avalanche paths... I wouldn't want to solo any of those avalanche gullies anyway, plus I was already satisfied about summiting Purple & Lipalian (that means, lake of motivation), so I abandoned the idea of ascending Unity. Maybe I will come back to this area in summer to finish it. I took a long lunch break at treeline, and leisurely decent back to car. It's funny that I used 4 hours on the way down, but 3 hours 10 minutes on the way up... On the way back, I noticed there's even a ski run from parking lot to Temple Lodge, not just the road... Oh well, I'm getting familiar with this area anyway.
I went to Lake Louise lakeshore for some photographing. Even though it's off-season and it's Monday, Lake Louise is always busy... On the way back, I decided to take Bow Valley Parkway. I saw a grizzly bear on roadside and took some close photos on him...
   
1. Mount Temple in the morning
2. My snowshoe on the summit of Purple Peak.
3. Moraine Lake area, seen from summit of Lipalian Mountain
4. My backpack on summit of Lipalian
    
1. Interesting cornices on the ridge connecting Lipalian to Purple
2. Ridge connecting Purple to Unity
3. Looking back at Purple, from partway down the mountain
4. Looking down Wolverine Valley, Whitehorn Mountain in the background
5. Temple Lodge
 
Some classic shots at Lake Louise
 
The grizzly... |
Edited by - StevenSong on 05/30/2012 5:59 PM
|
|
 Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13465 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2012 : 9:45 PM
|
Great capture on photographing the grizzly. He looks like what are you planning next... be my lunch perhaps ?
K |
|
|
Golden, BC
37 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2012 : 9:38 PM
|
| Great to bump into you, Steven. Nice trip...I guess you passed us pretty quick since we skied up the out-of-shape ski-out. By the time we hit Wolverine Bowl, you where almost at the top of Purple Peak! I guess that bushwack didn't slow you down too much. Hope to see you again, play safe! |
|
|
287 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 10:11 AM
|
Hey Steven,
Nice work out there! A lot different with the snow, that's for sure. This was one of my favourite trips from 2011 which included Unity Peak. If you go and do this again, make sure you go in autumn when the larches have turned colours. Truly spectacular!
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41601
P.S. I won't be able to join you this weekend. I will be in Washington state and Califnornia all next week aiming for Mt Rainier and Mt Shasta. I fly out Saturday morning to Seattle. I won't be back until just after the May Long weekend. |
|
|
877 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 11:33 AM
|
| The old highway is teeming with wildlife right now, especially if you drive it at the right hours. Beauty bear. Nice trip report. |
|
|
Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 10:32 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by jeffs78
Hey Steven,
Nice work out there! A lot different with the snow, that's for sure. This was one of my favourite trips from 2011 which included Unity Peak. If you go and do this again, make sure you go in autumn when the larches have turned colours. Truly spectacular!
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41601
P.S. I won't be able to join you this weekend. I will be in Washington state and Califnornia all next week aiming for Mt Rainier and Mt Shasta. I fly out Saturday morning to Seattle. I won't be back until just after the May Long weekend.
Hi Jeff,
WOW this area certainly looks beautiful in fall too! I would love to come back. PS. Seems like every scrambler was out on Sep. 24th, 2011 :) That was such a nice day except for a bit windy..
Good luck on Rainer! That would be such a wonderful trip! Hope to hear your story up there. |
|
|
Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2012 : 10:36 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by dav1481
The old highway is teeming with wildlife right now, especially if you drive it at the right hours. Beauty bear. Nice trip report.
Thx :)
Bears are quite common near skoki - castle area. Gonna make lots of noises!! The potential encounter always makes me nervous when hiking in the trees. |
|
|
287 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2012 : 08:48 AM
|
^^^
I admit too that I sometimes feel a little nervous when hiking alone in the trees. I was hiking back last year from Sofa Mountain near the Waterton Park boundary along a good trail making what I thought was lots of noise, but I turned a corner and heard noises to my left and right. To my right was a light coloured black bear about 15ft from me. Though I heard a noise to my left, I didn't see any bear but knew one had to be there too. The bear on my right didn't even look up, was too keen on digging or whatever he was doing. I had my bear spray out, and just kept walking, albeit at a quicker pace. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was back at my car. Two weeks earlier, I had a solo encounter with a mother black bear and two cubs while bushwhacking my way down off Rimwall Summit. Funny, after going all my life and never having a solo bear encounter, within the space of two weeks, I had two. Made me think about going out solo for a while that's for sure.
I'll try and do a report from Rainier and Shasta and post it here. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Purple Peak to Lipalian Mountain
