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Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 09:45 AM
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Cirrus Mountain always catches our eyes when driving along Icefield Parkway. After a bit of research, I found no information about the ascending route. But, from topo map, I noticed two or three possible ways, anyone has done one of them? Or do you have further information to share? Someone wants to try it out?
1. From Alexandra River Trail head, across highway and scramble up following a stream to reach Coleman Lake. It appears very steep from the map and I'm not sure the possibility, but since it's very short and has virtually zero distance to approach, it worth to give it a try...
From Coleman Lake, here is a photo from Eric Coulthard's Summit Search:
http://summitsearch.org/photos/2857-view-north-of-mount-coleman-photo
The route goes right of the ridge left of center, then goes around the ridge in the middle of the glacier, followed by maybe a very short glacier crossing to reach the col between true and false summit, then scramble up scree / rubble to the top...
2. If the direct approach to Coleman Lake is not possible (cliff out or something), it's possible to reach Coleman Lake from the saddle on Mount Coleman, to reach the saddle, follow the scramble route up Coleman. This route will involves near 2500m net elevation gain and will probably take > 18 hours for even the fittest people...
3. This is a shot taken from Big Bend parking lot:
http://stevensong.fotki.com/canadian-rockies/icefield-parkway/castleguard-mountai/p5128034.html
To omit Coleman Lake and short glacier crossing, there might be a shortcut. From this photo, it might be possible to scramble up directly the scree (snow) gully separating the true summit (left) and the false summit (right). It looks like the gully on Dolomite Peak... IF this route works out, it will be very less scenic compared with the other two, and very tedious on the way up too. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 12:33 PM
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Were you thinking something like this?
I would be interested if it was sometime in the fall. |
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Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
331 Posts |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 2:17 PM
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| The views look really good. The lake route is quite scenic. Makes me really want to do some overnight trips this year. |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 2:46 PM
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Eric & Raff:
Thanks very much for the photos. It's possible to directly hit to Coleman Lake from highway, which is a good news. But Raff, were you doing all those steep bushwhacking and scree bashing on your AT boots? I couldn't even walk properly...
Marko:
Yeah the red line is what i'm thinking. The notch is steep but since it's snow covered pretty well, it shouldn't involve cliff bands I guess. This way is definitely shorter and has no glacier involved.
I think lots of peak baggers will want to try it out as the view is awesome. |
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 Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 4:57 PM
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| Uh, how much "research" did you do? The standard ascent route (up the glacier) is in Chic Scott's Summits and Icefields book. I have a vague recollection of wallowing up it in isothermic snow many years ago. Rick Collier made an attempt many years ago up the W side and described it as "hellacious". I've climbed with Rick, he's a tough dude. Go buy Chic Scott's book. |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 6:02 PM
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| Uhh... Didn't pay attention on the book, but do you mean the older version? I have the newer version and there isn't an description of Cirrus Mtn on the index. Or is it called another name? I usually use reference of several web authors' sites, and google it as well. I can see Rick Collier's ascent but I couldn't see anything else except for the first few lines since I'm not a paid member. |
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Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2012 : 7:47 PM
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| It's definitely in the 1994 version of Chic's book. You appear to like obscure scrambles, without getting into arguments about websites, which has been done to death, a paid membership in Bivouac will likely be worth your while. |
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Coleman Lake to Cirrus Mountain Scramble Route??
