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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 08:59 AM
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2012-05-12
Distance: 22 km round trip
Elevation Gain: 1100 m
Time: 10 hours
I have often seen Association Peak from the highway, but could not convince myself to do the long approach to gain its summit. With these last few days being pretty warm and the front ranges pretty dry, my girlfriend and I decided to go.
What most who have done this peak don't mention or are not aware of is that a good part of the approach for Association Peak goes through Stoney Nakoda lands. Even the approach route over the Yamnuska shoulder eventually crosses this boundary. I believe this boundary is shown by the red dash line in the map below. Going across this boundary requires a permit and the Stoney Tribal Administration was kind enough to grant me one. Normally there is a $50 fee, but they were kind enough to waive it.
Even with the permit, we weren't sure exactly where to start. There are many signs along Old Fort Creek saying "Private Property" and "No Trespassing." We were not sure if the permit was sufficient to go across these areas, so we chose to park and follow the creek near a bridge, where we didn't see any signs. We hiked along the east bank of Old Fort Creek, following a trail. The trail would often disappear and reappear and go through a number of barb-wired fences. There were openings in the fences and going through wasn't that difficult, however, the trail does disappear after a while and we bushwhacked for quite a while. Eventually we came to a clearing and a horse trail which we followed all the way to the slopes of Association Peak.
There are no technical difficulties to scramble up this peak. Hiking up the scree, we eventually hit a rock band. Heading to the right of it, we found a weakness and continued on to the ridge. There was a bit of snow in the ascent gully, but not enough to cause concern. If anything, it helped us avoid the scree by kick-stepping to the top. I tried to kick-step short steps so my girlfriend could follow and this made me quite tired by the time I topped out on the ridge. Once on the ridge, it only took a couple of minutes to reach the summit.
Both the summit and the ridge are quite wide. The summit cairn was not at the highest point. It was perched next to the edge and it contained two registers; one glass and one PVC. The glass one was a mess, but I noticed some entries in it that dated back to 2000. The PVC one was placed by Rick Collier in 2007 or 2008. The peak seems to receive two to three visits a year. There were a lot of entries by the Rocky Mountain Ramblers.
I thought we might be the first to summit for 2012, but surprisingly there was an entry from March this year. There were a number of entries that described traversing from End Mountain or heading off in that direction. This surprised me because Raff described a notch in the ridge that dropped some 200m. I'm curious what route these folks are taking. I'm guessing it must be possible to drop down and traverse below the cliff bands.
My girlfriend surprised me on the summit with some birthday cake, and even brought along a sparkler. Lighting it was quite difficult, as it was quite windy, but we did manage to get it going. After the cake and some photos on the summit, we headed down. As we were making our way down, I saw some people top out on the summit of End Mountain. This was no doubt the Calgary Outdoor Club, who did a 28 km approach from the Big Hill. I managed to get some pics of them with my zoom lens.
Our route down was similar to our route up, up until where the CMC valley creek joins Old Fort Creek. Here we took a horse trail/road west of Old Fort Creek all the way back to the highway. This was a real quick way to go and we probably would have saved an hour or more had we taken the same way up. This route eventually comes out to the private property/no trespassing signs that we came across when we started. We figure the permit was sufficient permission to follow this road back. Judging by the horse droppings, this road must get a lot of use in the summer and I'm glad we did it earlier in the year, avoiding any horses and possible trespassing issues.
Photos:
           
Map:
Download GPS Track
More photos here:
http://markostavric.fotki.com/2012/20120512/ |
Edited by - Marko on 05/14/2012 09:15 AM
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877 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 09:48 AM
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| Cake on the summit after a long approach? She's a keeper. |
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High River, (just south of Calgary eh!), Alberta
Canada
1701 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 09:59 AM
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| Excellent outing. I've done very little in the area (besides Yam). Interest piqued! |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 10:08 AM
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Dav, yeah, I think her pack weighed more than mine!
Clayton, I can't say I would recommend it. You probably saw my entry in the other thread. I would recommend Morrowmount over this one or Black Rock Mountain. I'm also quite curious about the traverse from End Mountain. It might be easier to bike over to End Mountain from Big Hill and do the traverse. But I'm still not sure how one gets past the notches in the ridge. |
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High River, (just south of Calgary eh!), Alberta
Canada
1701 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 10:10 AM
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| Right. I guess you could say piqued re: that general area. Thanks for the thoughts, I'm all about hi-grading! |
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| Engor
Intermediate Member
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Calgary
838 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 11:01 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Marko
He-he. It was possibly me. Everyone else in our group wore red or blue. I took a photo of Association Peak from End Mountain but was not aiming directly at it:
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 11:07 AM
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| Looks like you have done many peaks in this area. I've never been up any of those including Yamuska. I would like to try Morromount and possibly Hassel Castle, but I'm totally ready to turn back if terrain gets over my comfortable level. Or try Baldy West Ridge before attemping Hassel Castle... |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 12:05 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Engor
He-he. It was possibly me. Everyone else in our group wore red or blue. I took a photo of Association Peak from End Mountain but was not aiming directly at it:
I took the photo about half way down the peak, so you would not have seen us at the summit. I tried to yell and say hello, but I'm not sure that anyone heard me. :) |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 12:11 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by StevenSong
Looks like you have done many peaks in this area. I've never been up any of those including Yamuska. I would like to try Morromount and possibly Hassel Castle, but I'm totally ready to turn back if terrain gets over my comfortable level. Or try Baldy West Ridge before attemping Hassel Castle...
Morrowmount is really just a long walk up. The only scrambling we did was in the canyon. :) Hassel Castle looks pretty intimidating! I've been doing these front range ones because I'm not comfortable with snow and anything with avalanche risk. I'm looking forward to more warm weather and opportunity for peaks around Lake Louise and Icefields Parkway. |
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| Engor
Intermediate Member
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Calgary
838 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 12:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Marko
There were a number of entries that described traversing from End Mountain or heading off in that direction. This surprised me because Raff described a notch in the ridge that dropped some 200m. I'm curious what route these folks are taking. I'm guessing it must be possible to drop down and traverse below the cliff bands.
I didn't check the summit register but was told that the last entry was made by the Ramblers 3 years ago. There were only 6 or so entries in the register. You may want to ask Gerry if they provide specific details on a traverse from Association Peak. Our scramble route involved a moderate scree bash with a few steps of what I would describe as a borderline scrambling: just look at this photo! :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88903647@N00/7188400246/in/set-72157629707076060/lightbox/
It took me at least 10 minutes to figure out how to get myself up this chimney. I'm not familiar with the climbing classification. According to Gerry it involved a few low Class 5 moves. |
Edited by - Engor on 05/14/2012 12:57 PM |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 1:08 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Engor
[quote]I didn't check the summit register but was told that the last entry was made by the Ramblers 3 years ago. There were only 6 or so entries in the register. You may want to ask Gerry if they provide specific details on a traverse from Association Peak. Our scramble route involved a moderate scree bash with a few steps of what I would describe as a borderline scrambling: just look at this photo! :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88903647@N00/7188400246/in/set-72157629707076060/lightbox/
It took me at least 10 minutes to figure out how to get myself up this chimney. I'm not familiar with the climbing classification. According to Gerry it involved a few low Class 5 moves.
End Mountain looks way more fun than Association. Gerry mentioned it the approach could be shortened considerably, which would make it a lot more appealing! I'd like to go in and camp there so I can do Orient Point as well. I'm just not sure how my Honda Fit would do on that road. |
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 Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3838 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2012 : 9:57 PM
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Missed this.
Another great trip.
I really appreciate all the work and detail you put in your reports.
Your reports rank in my opinion as the top best posted here.
Thanx and well done. |
Edited by - Wildman on 05/14/2012 9:58 PM |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2012 : 07:58 AM
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| Well that's quite the compliment, thank you very much! I have used other people's trip reports for a lot of these trips, so I home mine help others as much as others have helped me. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
617 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2012 : 10:44 AM
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Cool TR - love the cake thing too! I look at this mountain on every drive into the mountains from Calgary and just can't convince myself yet that it's worth it. Some day I'll cave and just do it to shut up the voices in my head... 
How were the ticks? I've heard they're out in full force. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2012 : 1:51 PM
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Vern, Perhaps the traverse from End Mountain would be more interesting. I was thinking of maybe camping in the Ghost sometime and tagging End, Orient, etc. I don't see a Devil's Head entry on explor8ion, have you not done it? Greg and I were thinking of doing it in the fall if you'd like to join us.
Considering the bushwhacking we did, I was surprised that we didn't see any ticks. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
617 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2012 : 06:50 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Marko
Vern, Perhaps the traverse from End Mountain would be more interesting. I was thinking of maybe camping in the Ghost sometime and tagging End, Orient, etc. I don't see a Devil's Head entry on explor8ion, have you not done it? Greg and I were thinking of doing it in the fall if you'd like to join us.
Considering the bushwhacking we did, I was surprised that we didn't see any ticks.
Yeah - Devil's Head is on my list and fall would be a perfect time for it. I think ticks live in (long) grass so maybe that's why you didn't get any? |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1194 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2012 : 08:31 AM
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Vern, I wonder if it has anything to do with sheep. The area we bushwhacked through has lots of fences that may make it harder for sheep to access. North of the mountain there is a lot of people activity in the Ghost. South of the mountain there is a lot of people activity on Yamnuska. I suspect that less sheep means less ticks.
The only time I had one embedded was in Waterton and I spent most of the time bushwhacking through a treed slope. |
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Association Peak
