| Ref: Alan Kane's
Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies |
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At the Lake Agnes
Teahouse early morning. |
| Scramble: RT 9.0; 4.5 up.
Fabrice is on vacation and the weather has been fantastic. I
couldn't resist taking another day off to come visit the beautiful Lake
Louise area. This was our third try at Mount Niblock, the first two
attempts were ski trips from the BC side. We were stormed out on the
first attempt and turned around about 30 meters from the summit because
of meringue-like cornices on the second. The trip up Niblock Col
in the winter
is quite an outing by itself, it ventures into big terrain... For this
trip, we planned
an early start to beat the heat and traffic. We met Charles at the
parking lot; he admits that he's getting hooked on scrambling! We
soon reached stunning Lake Agnes; I love turquoise lakes, I wish they
were warmer. At the end of the
lake, where we leave the trail, the route up the mountain comes in
view. A good trail leads to the rockband's weakness. From there, cairns
and bits of trail indicate the way to the col; several lines
exist. Mount Whyte looks uninviting, it's not on
the agenda today... Once at the col, we were familiar with the terrain,
we
wasted
no time and gained the summit ridge just ahead of the top. We
continued to the summit and stayed for quite a while. |
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Leaving the popular
trail behind with Mount Niblock ahead of us. |
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Ascending the scree
cone. |
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The obvious weakness
in the rockband. |
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A mountain goat is
scrutinizing us. |
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A path and several
cairns indicate the way. |
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An occasional
scrambly bit. |
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Mount St-Piran as we
near the crest of the rockband. |
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Trekking on snow
before the traverse climber's right. |
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Traversing the
mountainside towards climbable terrain. |
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Making our way up to
the col. |
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Following cairns and
sections of trail here and there. |
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Intimidating Mount
Whyte from the col. |
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Starting up Mount
Niblock. |
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Beautifully banded
rock outcrop, we went climber's left of it. |
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Beyond the banded
outcrop, we continued our traverse past another outcrop. |
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Climbing to the
ridge crest. |
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Further up, the
summit is revealed (center). |
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Almost there. |
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Yippee! |
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Northern view. |
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Leaving after a fine
summit stay. |
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Backtracking. |
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View towards Mount
Victoria and Pope's Peak. |
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Lakes Agnes and
Louise stand out in the landscape. |
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Back on snow. |
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Down the rockband. |
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Not much route
finding involved. |
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Nearing the popular
trail, which is very busy by now! |
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