| Ref: Andrew
Nugara's More scrambles in the Canadian Rockies 3rd edition
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Marta's ready to go, giddy up
pony!
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Scramble:
RT 11.5; 5.0 up. I met with Marta for another fantastic scramble.
Silverhorn
Mountain exceeded our expectations; the approach is short and quite
pleasant,
the ascent gully grants fun scrambling on good rock and the walk on the
summit ridge crest is great although far too short. On my drive in, I
waited for Marta on the shoulder opposite Bow Summit. We both drove off
to
locate the drainage; a GPS is usefull here, we parked on the steepish
shoulder as there is no pull off close by unless you drive an
additional kilometer north. We started hiking in the creekbed but soon
veered to the north bank to walk on ground. There's no trail but travel
is generally good. Soon thereafter, the waterfall came into view. We
continued high up on the northern embankment to treeline, we stopped at
a
shallow saddle where we could see the upper mountain. We weren't quite
sure which gully to ascend to reach the summit ridge. I only had one
picture to go by on my phone, Marta and I scrutinized it and figured we
had to traverse all the way to the far gully. The traverse was faster
than anticipated. At the gully, we chose to scramble on good rock to
the left. Several lines of ascent are possible and the scrambling never
gets too difficult or exposed. At the top of the gully, we continued
the ascent on loose talus; we travelled side by side to prevent kicking
rocks on each other. That slope is tedious and longer than it appears.
Once on
the ridge, we enjoyed some fun scrambling on the crest, the traverse to
the summit was over all too quick. We stayed on the summit for 2 hours,
there was no wind on this warm day. We had fun, I'm not about to
forget our priceless shenanigans. Surprinsingly, the faboulous views were
unobstructed
by the smoke from forest fires. Backtracking was very fast, we stopped
along the sidehilling traverse in a side drainage to replenish our
water bottles and take another break. This scramble is fun and
straightforward, it's short
enough to allow hanging out at the top to your heart's content!
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Easy walk in
the creekbed before scooting up the northern embankment.
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The
waterfall is reached in less than an hour.
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Travel on
the embankment is straightforward.
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Reaching
treeline with the objective on the right.
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Looking at
the traverse to the ascent gully.
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Crossing a
drainage along the traverse.
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Ascending
good rock climber's left of the gully.
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Looking back
at the traverse.
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Fine
moderate scrambling. |
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It is
possible to stray into tougher terrain.
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The
rock is much more pleasant to ascend than the loose gully alongside.
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Veering
towards the gully to gain the upper talus slope.
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The talus
slope is tedious and longer than it appears.
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On the
summit ridge.
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Looking back.
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It is
possible to stay on the ridge proper most of the way.
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One
difficult section requires circumventing on the east side.
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The summit
is in sight.
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Looking back
with Mount Weed on the left and Quill Peak in the distance on the right.
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On the
summit with Observation Mountain in the background.
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A glimpse at
our summit shenanigans.
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My tamed
summit pose with the BC flag on BC day!!!
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Peyto Lake
and some classic mountaineering objectives of the Wapta Icefield.
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Mount
Howse, White Pyramid and Mount Chephren.
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Leaving the
top.
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Beautiful
summit ridge but all too short.
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South-eastern
view towards Bobac Peak and Mount Willingdon.
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Marta
tackles a narrower section.
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Heading to
the access gully.
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Some short
sections are entertaining.
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Another fun
bit.
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Mount
Patterson.
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Just above
the waterfall.
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Back in the
creekbed by sunset, we milked this one!
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| Back
to home page |
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