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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2012 : 9:52 PM
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2012-06-28 Mount Howard
I had been wanting to spend a night on the top of a mountain for quite sometime. Mainly for the purpose of seeing a sunrise/sunset from the top. The long weekend provided ample opportunity to accomplish this goal.
My plan was to do the Banded Peak to Mount Glasgow traverse. I studied several trip reports and had figured out two good spots to bivy. Unfortunately, as I neared the mountain range, I realized there was still a lot of snow on those peaks. Not wanting to turn around, but not having any guide books or route information with me, I chose to do Compression Ridge and Mount Howard. I had gone up Compression Ridge earlier in the month and had a good idea of the route to Mount Howard. Though not as long as the initially planned trip, I figured it would be a decent one to split into two days.
I was going to try the Canyon Creek route that was suggested to me and initially parked there. I got out of the car, walked towards the creek and just didn't have a good feeling about it. Sometimes you just have to listen to your gut, so I walked back to the car, drove to Ford/Prairie Creek and took the route that I knew.
It didn't take me long to get up to the ridge and I immediately started looking for water sources and good bivy spots. I found a couple of places where the cornices were melting, but Compression Ridge was not a place for flat bivy spots. I continued on towards Mount Howard.
As I went along, the wind got worse and I started wondering about abandoning my plan to stay overnight and just doing the trip in one day. I left the car at 11:00 am and it was past 4:00 pm by the time I was closing in on the summit. I didn't know if I could get back to the car before nightfall and as I was thinking about that, I saw a couple of people coming down with their dog. I was quite surprised. Surely if they could get back to their car in time, I could to. I chatted with them briefly, found out they came up Canyon Creek and were headed down the same way. They continued down and I continued up.
The summit had excellent views. Many recognizable peaks could be seen off to the west. The register would suggested the peak was quite popular in 2000, with many coming up the southeast ridge. What a long approach that would be! There seem to be two to three groups visiting the peak annually. The couple I saw earlier and myself were the first visitors for 2012.
As I scrambled down, I decided to bivy on the low point of the ridge between Compression and Mount Howard. It was flat and I figured this would be less windy. It seemed to be a good call. I would find out later that the weather station on Compression Ridge registered wind speeds up to 95 kmph. It was still a windy night. I had built up a small pile of rocks as a barrier, though I'm not sure how much that helped. Surprisingly, I fell asleep easily.
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2012-06-29 Compression Ridge
At around 5:00 am, I looked out of my bivy sack and noticed it was getting light out. Glancing to the east, I could see some brilliant colours forming on the clouds. I got up quickly, packed up and rushed up to a higher point. Unfortunately, by the time I reached a higher point, the best of the sunrise was over. There was still some colour on the horizon, as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. I took out my coloured gradient filter and snapped a few shots. Though it wasn't the shot it would have been a few minutes earlier, I was still happy with the result.
I continued on with my trip. I still had the summit of Compression Ridge to reach and I expected some difficult scrambling ahead. A couple of trip reports described a rock-fin feature, with instruction to avoid it. I was able to circumvent the thin ridge on the right, without losing any elevation. The scrambling was a bit tricky, but not beyond what this route is rated.
The only other obstacle to the summit was a narrow and unavoidable ridge. There was not too much hands-on scrambling, but there was enough exposure to warrant the difficult rating. The summit had no visible cairn and no register that I could see. Being a little chilly, I decided to leave the task of building a cairn to someone else.
Leaving the summit to the east, I passed some beautiful rock formations. There are several rock outcrops and pinnacles and two of them have naturally formed windows. I almost missed the first one, scrambling up and over it, but I backtracked to have a look. The second one is hard to miss and served as an indicator for my route down.
It seems like many people climb up to the second window. This is not part of the route. Getting to it requires two to three difficult (or low class 5) moves. The rock is pretty solid and I made sure to pay attention to the holds I was using on the way up, as it's easy to miss them on the way down.
From there, I took the scree down. Near the bottom, the scree funnelled into two drainages. I stayed between them as far as I could, then eventually climbed down into the left one and followed it out to the creek and back to the car.
Photos
            
Map
[Download GPS Track]
More photos here:
http://markostavric.fotki.com/2012/20120628/
http://markostavric.fotki.com/2012/20120629/
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Edited by - Marko on 07/01/2012 9:52 PM
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7 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2012 : 10:20 PM
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| I find that the older I get, the easier I sleep too. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 08:29 AM
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| and the more weight you carry. :) |
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287 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 10:15 AM
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Hey Marko,
Would there be still too much snow on Cougar Mountain you think? Are water levels quite high still? I was thinking of doing this one next weekend. |
Edited by - jeffs78 on 07/03/2012 10:16 AM |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
468 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 11:06 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by jeffs78
Hey Marko,
Would there be still too much snow on Cougar Mountain you think? Are water levels quite high still? I was thinking of doing this one next weekend.
I think Cougar was in shape by the time I did the traverse of Fullerton to Nihahi to Compression. Water level is high but you don't need to ford a creek. The trail will be muddy for sure. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 11:49 AM
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I think Cougar would be doable. I didn't take notice of it, but the route seems to stick along the ridge. Most of the snow I noticed on Glasgow-Banded seemed to be in the bowls. Though Cornwall looked fairly covered. This was on Thursday. It is melting fast. It looked considerably better on Saturday.
I was thinking of Cougar as an option for the upcoming weekend. |
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 11:57 AM
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| Could have been a really nice shot without the coloured filter. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 2:29 PM
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| skibum, I do have one without, and the gradient filter makes it a more captivating shot. |
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High River, (just south of Calgary eh!), Alberta
Canada
1703 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2012 : 09:26 AM
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Is that a loose as it looks? |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
1197 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2012 : 09:38 AM
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Clayton, yeah, it's pretty loose. I think most people go around via green route in the photo below. I got off the ridge and started heading this way, then noticed I could hop over the ridge and traverse alongside. This required some caution, but it wasn't as bad as it may look in the photo.
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Mount Howard & Compression Ridge
