| Ref: Rocky
Mountain Ramblers Association |
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Nice pond at the
foot of a waterfall as we start ascending the south ridge. |
| Scramble:
RT
9.5; 4.5 up. We had been contemplating a trip to Princess Margaret for
a while. After reading a couple of trip reports, we felt we had enough
information to give it a try. We called the owner of the quarry and
left a message announcing our visit. We also invited Fab's cousin
Charles, who greatly enjoys fine excursions in the mountains. We met
him in Harvie Heights and proceeded to park near the quarry road. We
brought a rope for this scramble, we planned on using it for the
5-meter downclimb preceding the summit block. The approach on the road
is quick and painless, we were soon trudging up light timbered slopes
to the south ridge. Nearing treeline, the terrain gets rockier and
quickly leads to a slab face. I was unsure if I could summon enough
courage to execute the traverse to the ridge proper. Fab and Charles
carefully made their way across and I tried to follow. The slab is
grippy and offers good purchase but the significant run-out isn't
reassuring; I asked Fab for a belay. After the crux slab, we resumed
our ascent. Travel along the ridge is enjoyable and as it gets tougher,
a cairned traverse into the gully offers a bail-out route. We reached
the false
summit in good time and continued towards the intimidating summit
block. A cairn indicates the belay station for the downclimb;
we
rappelled the pitch and started up the summit block. We quickly reached
the top where we took tons of pictures and signed the register.
Descending from the top was a bit unnerving, I didn't want to stumble
here! After climbing back up the downclimb, we had lunch basking in the
sun. Going down
was nice, we enjoyed some scrambling and beautiful scenery. At the
slab, we used the same tree to secure our descent across the slab.
Rappelling across seemed more difficult than just rappelling down...
Now at treeline, the rest of our return consisted of easy bushwhacking
on the south ridge. The quarry road is nice to walk on at the
end! |
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Crux at treeline, a
steep slab with a significant run-out. |
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Getting up close. |
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Fab and his cousin
Charles choose their preferred way. |
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Off they go as I
watch nervously. |
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Fab throws me the
rope for a belay. |
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After the slab, we
scrambled up the ridge proper. |
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The objective comes
into view (right), we ascend the false summit first (left). |
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The remainder of the
south ridge and the ascent gully. |
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Fun hiking on the
rocky ridge. |
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Further along, we
traversed in the scree (cairned). |
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We aimed for the
middle gully. |
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Climbing up the
gully. |
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The ascent ridge is
not difficult, except for the slab at treeline. |
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Nearing the false
summit. |
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The summit block is
intimidating... |
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Dropping around
an outcrop, I'm barely visible. |
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Reaching the pitons
above the 5-meter downclimb. |
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Looking down the
pitch. |
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Fab rappelling. |
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Almost at the top. |
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Yipee... Right on,
right on!!! |
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Leaving soon after
summiting. |
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Careful not to
stumble... |
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Backtracking to the
false summit. |
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Descending the upper
south ridge. |
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Nearing the ascent
gully. |
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The ascent gully. |
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Back on the ridge
with Canmore and The Sisters in the background. |
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Reaching a beautiful
viewpoint. |
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Pretty steep as we
near the slab. |
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Charles rappelling
across to the tree behind him. |
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Fab's turn. |
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We used the rope for
this section. |
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Park Boundary cairn. |
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Back down the quarry
road. |
| Back
to home page |
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