| Ref: Alan
Kane's
Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies 3rd edition
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Boundary marker at Simpson Pass.
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Scramble:
RT 16.0; 8.0 up. Last weekend I ventured over Healy
Pass to catch the sunrise and ascend Pharaoh Peak, the yellow larch
trees were so beautiful that I was
compelled to come back. Several scramblers had recently posted trip
reports on The Monarch. This objective was appealing, I
worked at Sunshine Village for many years a long time ago and wondered
if there was a way up this peak. Little did I know, this
scramble is listed in Alan Kane's 3rd edition scrambling book... I read
the trip reports and
sent an invite to my good friend Jay, I was thrilled that he wanted to
come along for this long haul.
I left home on saturday night and slept in my truck at the gondola base
for the second weekend in a row. Jay joined me early in the morning and
we got on the way in the dark. We hiked to Eohippus Lake under overcast
sky. From there we aimed for Monarch's north shoulder and went down the
west
side, we skirted treeline for easier travel and reached
the access gully in good time. There was a fresh layer of snow in the
gully; honestly, I think that worked in our favour. The rocks appeared
to be frozen in place and the snow provided cushy footsteps. Higher up,
where the terrain opens up, the snow cover increased; some sections
would have been worrisome with deeper pockets. We proceeded to the
summit block on variable ground. The rest of the route looked daunting,
it required scrambling on steep frozen
scree covered by a thin layer of snow. We aimed to stick close to the
ridge but a couple of steep
steps proved committing. We decided to backtrack and look for another
way; at that time, we noticed a lone scrambler coming up the
bowl. We worked our way below the summit and onto the west face.
We started climbing a gully but once again, we ran into sketchy
conditions that prevented us from continuing safely. We backtracked
again and returned to our initial ascent. By now, the lone scrambler
was ahead of us and had blazed a trail through the tough part. He stood
at the summit and yelled down that it wasn't as bad as it looked. To
proceed safely, we donned crampons. The
last short bit was exhilarating even with crampons, it very
much felt like an alpine climb; I was relieved to reach
the summit. The person at the top greeted us, he introduced himself and
told me he recognized me
from my website. Pawel Glownia is yet another Polish person I've met in
the mountains! After a short stay at the top, we retraced our way
down. I was a bit worried about a section in particular but it
proved
more manageable than expected and provided some good photo opportunity.
We carried on down to the gully which wasn't too tedious. At the
bottom of the gully, we separated from Pawel; he had to blaze back home
to Calgary at a fast pace. Jay and I hung back and casually climbed to
Monarch's saddle where we stopped for a good break. The rest of
the long hike on trail was mindlessly spent in
auto-pilot. I was really glad to have ascended The
Monarch in these conditions, it really made the climb special!
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The Monarch's reflexion in a large pond along the trail to Eohippus Lake.
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We've reached Eohippus Lake at the foot of The Monarch.
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The striking north-east face of The Monarch.
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Random hiking towards The Monarch's north shoulder.
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There's leftover snow from last week and a thin layer of ice on the water, winter is creeping in...
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On the shoulder.
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Looking back at Eohippus Lake and Simpson Peak.
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Skirting treeline for easier travel on our way down to the access gully.
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Happy to be hiking through yellow larch trees, The Monarch is looming above.
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Looking towards the shoulder we descended.
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The access gully.
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Higher up the gully, snow deepens and ice drapes the rockwall.
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The upper mountain with the summit block in sight.
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Traversing to the north ridge.
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On the north ridge's saddle with the scramble up the summit block ahead.
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View north over Sunshine Meadows towards several familiar peaks.
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Sunshine Village ski area north-east of us.
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Exploring our options.
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After backing down from the ridge crest, we try a route up the face with no avail.
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We returned on our initial route and followed a lone scrambler's uptrack after putting crampons on.
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At the top with the western view over Hawk Ridge.
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South-easten view towards Mount Assiniboine.
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Pawel and Jay with Mount Shank in the background.
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Heading down.
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Pawel waits for us.
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Jay comes down a sketchy bit.
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Pawel downclimbs steep terrain.
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Traversing to the saddle on the north ridge.
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Retracing our steps down the upper mountain.
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The access gully wasn't as tedious as I expected.
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Climbing back up to the shoulder.
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Hiking back to Eohippus Lake.
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Walking along nice ponds.
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Last glimpse, The Monarch is now engulfed in low cloud.
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Even if the sky was overcast, the scenery with the yellow larch trees was delightful.
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Spent the night at SSV and caught this beautiful sunrise.
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| Back to home page
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