| Author |
Topic |
|
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2012 : 9:37 PM
|
2012-06-03
Distance: 26 km
Elevation Gain: 1124 meters
Time: 9 hours
Mount Fullerton is 2,728 meters and is part of the Fisher Range in Kananaskis Country. The mountain carries the name of a family that ranched in the Bragg Creek area. The route starts from the Little Elbow campground and is one of many in the area that is best done with a bike approach.
The road to the campground opens on May 15, but I would recommend waiting until June for the best conditions. I attempted this mountain on May 16th in 2009 and found it completely buried in snow. A group went up a week ago and it still looked like winter. On this day most of the route was dry. The Little Elbow trail was quite pleasant for the bike approach and I felt sorry for anyone that chose to hike this trail instead.
My girlfriend and I went at a leisurely pace, but with bikes we quickly reached Nihahi Creek. After stashing away our bikes and hiking up on a few switchbacks, we were at the dry creek bed. This is the most difficult part of this scramble, mainly because it's boring. I even thought about attempting to gain the south east ridge through the first available gully. We endured and soon reached the correct gully. It was marked with a couple of cairns. The gully was still full of snow, but we were able to skirt around the snow using the scree slope on the left.
The north east ridge looked short and it felt like the summit was only fifteen minutes away, but this was an illusion. It took us much longer to reach the summit than we thought it would. It was a bit discouraging. There was some really interesting rock along the ridge. There are many boulders and outcrops that seem to have been carved by water and glacier. This made for some fun optional scrambling.
Near the summit there are a couple of moderate moves which are unavoidable. According to the summit register, these were a bit too much for some people who chose to wait for their companions just below the summit. Surprisingly, we were the first to sign the summit register for 2012. The group before us may not have noticed it under the pile of snow that they had encountered a week earlier. The register is in good condition, replaced in the 2006 by the Calgary Outdoor Club. There seem to be about four to five entries a year.
There were interesting views of the Opal and Fisher range, but snow in the distance prevented us from seeing further. Mount Romulus looked quite impressive. We didn't stay long because it was a bit chilly and some nasty clouds were coming our way.
Photos
           
Map
[Download GPS track]
More photos here:
http://markostavric.fotki.com/2012/20120603/
|
Edited by - Marko on 06/04/2012 9:39 PM
|
|
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2012 : 9:45 PM
|
| P.S. We found a ladies' watch on the trail. It's in good condition, still ticking and with accurate time. It looked like it might have been lost in the last few days. If you are the owner, feel free to contact me with a description of the watch and we'll gladly return it to you. |
|
|
Calgary, AB
49 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2012 : 11:23 AM
|
| Awesome... Thanks for the trip report! |
|
|
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
110 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2012 : 12:40 PM
|
| Thanks for this reminder about the great scrambles out of the Little Elbow campground. Must get to Romulus and Remus this year! |
|
|
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1186 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2012 : 1:58 PM
|
V1, No prob. Your photos were quite helpful in determining the conditions from that other thread.
Trail Talk, They're on my list for this year. I'm thinking water levels would be pretty high right now and I might leave them for the fall. I might do Cougar Mountain in the next couple of weeks. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Mount Fullerton
