Ref: Brandon Boulier's trip report on Peakbagger.com
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A great pre-climb bonfire among good friends.
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Scramble:
RT 10.25; 5.25 up. Mount Stelfox isn't well-known and
I don't recall ever coming across a route description until recently.
When I read Brandon's trip report, I knew I
had to attempt this objective. I sent out some invites hoping to tackle
the 25-kilometer hike in a day which seemed entirely possible. The
weather during the week was unstable; additionally, a rainfall warning
of up to
30 mm was issued for Nordegg just before our
summit bid. Some people tried to deter us from going; they were
concerned about swollen creekbeds, too
much snow, low cloudcover and icy roads. Of course those were all
legitimate concerns but we were ready to accept the challenge. We met
saturday late afternoon and camped near the trailhead. We enjoyed a
fine
evening conversing by a bonfire, we roasted wieners and had a few
drinks before retiring for the night. The wake up call came all too
early the following morning, I think it's fair to say we could have
slept a little longer...
The trail was covered with a thin layer of fresh snow but travel was good
and we reached the minor creek crossings in decent time. None of the
crossings were consequential, we carried on to the secondary trail that
veers towards Whitegoat Pass. We'd been following a bear
track, we lost it at times but it always seemed to reappear a
little further along the trail. At some point, the crude trail goes
through stretches of alder; with snow it was a bit tougher to discern.
Once we reached the ascent gully, travel improved and
we got to the task of climbing the mountain. Surprisingly, the bear
track came from the easy gully, the snow displayed the paw prints which were neat to
follow. As we gained height, the mountains framed by clouds of varied
darkness were revealed. The
cloudcover was high and didn't obstruct the fine view until later in
the afternoon when we started coming down.
By then, the tops of the tallest mountains like Mount Cline were
engulfed. Our descent in the gully was relatively quick and it felt
like
backtracking on the crude trail was faster than earlier. We had a good
return time and made it back to the trailhead with plenty of daylight
left to drive home. This was a nice weekend
spent with good friends.
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At the trailhead, kinda ready to go.
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Finding my balance.
Picture courtesy of Brett Hill.
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The trail is plastered by fresh snow.
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At the Whitegoat Pass Junction.
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Following the trail and a grizzly track.
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Locating the drainage leading to the ascent gully.
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We're not feeling top shape....
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Starting up the gully.
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Climbing next to the grizzly track.
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Overcast but pretty just the same.
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In good spirit.
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Slowly nearing to the ridge crest.
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Alison still following the bear track.
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Brightstar Peak north-west of us.
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Summit cairn ahead.
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The impressive south-east ridge and Elliot Peak on the right.
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Mount Cline to the south-west.
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My good friend Alison by the summit cairn.
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Allstones Peak to the north-east.
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Abraham Lake and Mount Michener.
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Heading down.
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Almost back in the drainage.
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The snow is melting fast.
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Nearing the end of our hike with some minor creek crossings.
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