Drive to the David Thompson Highway 11 and park
at the Timber Creek Bridge, 281625, 2.5 kilometers east of Thompson
Creek Campground. We
ascended on the west side of the creek through burnt timber and
manageable deadfall. We crossed secondary outflows and paralleled
the main drainage from above. About half way up, roughly 297660, we aimed for the
creekbed. We bypassed a canyon climber's left, returning to the
creekbed thereafter. Further travel in the gully is straightforward.
The south-west aspect grants easy access to the top. On descent, we
stayed in the creekbed almost all the way down; we circumvented
occasional difficulties by climbing the west bank.
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Mount Hensley
(center). |
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Manageable deadfall
with very little undergrowth. |
| Scramble: RT
13.0; 6.0 up. I noticed Mount Hensley from the
highway a few years back. As we returned from Nordegg a couple of weeks
ago, I
had another good look; the ascent gully was filled with snow and the
approach appeared snowfree to treeline, this prompted me to suggest it
to Fab. I still favored my injured knee, I hoped for a long glissade
to lessen the strain of going down. There
was zero information about this objective on the
internet, we plotted our way and hoped for the best. We parked on the
side of the
highway and started hiking along the west side of Timber
Creek. The burnt forest offers some views, the price is plentiful
deadfall; luckily, the tangled wood is manageable. We hiked the path of
least resistance, keeping in mind the main drainage to our right. We
followed a paralleling drainage on a rib for a while, travel was decent
as we zigzagged and sometimes lost height to gain another rib;
eventually we corrected our heading and aimed for the main drainage.
After nearly 3 hours and about 5 kilometers, we descended to the
creekbed. Travel was fine but we encountered a canyon shortly
thereafter. We bypassed the canyon by climbing the west bank, we then
returned to the creekbed. Within 15 minutes, we stood on firm
avalanche debris. The snow filled the whole drainage, we were
extremely pleased. We hiked with ease, enjoying the second half of the
ascent. The uninterrupted snow gully led all the way to
the ridge crest. Once on the ridge, the summit is not far away. We
arrived at the top as some nasty looking weather shrouded the mountains
north of us. We put on all our layers and watched the dark clouds skirt
us. The temperature dropped close to zero as the snow
fell; oddly enough, it wasn't that windy. We stayed over an hour before
retracing our steps. I glissaded as much as possible. Beyond the
canyon, we decided to stay in the
creekbed. Travel was good at first
but as we got lower, detours on the
west bank became more frequent. We were
quite happy to step on pavement and see the car. I can't believe I
completed this trip without further injury to my knee; thank you God! |
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Some sections have
more deadfall... |
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Following a rib. |
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Travelling above the
drainage. |
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About half way, we went down to the creekbed. |
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Coming up to a
canyon that we circumvented climber's left. |
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Descending to the
creekbed after the small detour. |
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The big white
boulder in the middle of the creekbed is a good indicator for the
detour upon return. |
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Shortly thereafter,
snow appears in the drainage. |
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The avalanche debris
is firm and delightful for travel. |
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The snow path is
uninterrupted; happy, happy, joy, joy! |
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This is exactly what
we were hoping for. |
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Nearing the ridge
crest. |
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Spreading my weight
on my poles to avoid postholing. |
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Mount Cline and
Resolute Mountain to the left; Whitegoat Peaks in the background
(center). |
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Looking back. |
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Reaching the top
with ominous weather to the north. |
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The unofficial
weather station. |
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The dark clouds
skirted us, the temperature dropped and it's now snowing. |
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View north-west. |
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Leaving the top. |
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The sun is shining
again. |
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Heading to the snow
on the soft shale, which is also nice. |
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Glissading, one of
my favorite things. |
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Thoroughly enjoying
the continuous highway of snow. |
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All good things must
come to an end... |
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Circumventing the
canyon. |
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The creekbed much
lower down. |
| Back
to home page |
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