Waputik Peak


elevation: 2,736 m. height gain: 1,145 m.
area: Lake Louise,AB map 82 N/8-9
2008-Nov-23


Ref: Rocky Mountain Ramblers
at the start


Along the track heading for Bath Creek.
Snowshoe trip: RT 10.0; 6.5 up. Another fine outing, a lot longer than we expected. Fab and I decided to leave to pooches at home and choose something close. The forecast called for sunny and relatively mild weather again. This weekend we brought snowshoes though. Lost Lake parking area was not plowed so we drove another kilometer east to a pull. We traveled along the train track until we reached Bath Creek and followed it all the way to the gravel flats. Travelling was made easier by keeping to the frozen creek sides; we still had to go through trees in several sections. At the gravel flats we eventually came to a stream veering right towards the avalanche paths, we followed it. We aimed to climb the furthest avalanche path; hence, we started a long traverse. Higher up on the slope, after breaking out of the trees, we took off our snowshoes to hike on the windblown scree ridges. Fab announced to me that he could no longer pursue the summit. He walked to a high feature with sight of the summit and waited for me. I followed paths stripped of snow. The summit was still surprisingly far; another late one? I really hustled, thinking about the doggies at home and Fab down below. At 3:00 PM, after taking some amazing pictures from this summit, I returned promptly to Fab. We quickly got down to the bottom of our traverse without even putting the snowshoes back on. The return was fine using our track. We hurried, fatigued, to beat the darkness. When we arrived at the highway, it was dark. Walking to the car on the skinny shoulder was scary with all the transports buzzing by. We arrived at the car by 6:00 PM. Overall a great trip, we're glad to have been able to use the creek for travel and that avalanche hazard was still minimal.
creek crossing

Falling in is not an option.

bluffs

Bluffs encouraged us to traverse climber's left.

traverse


The traverse in shallow snow.


pilot


Looking back towards Pilot Mountain.


bath glacier


Bath Glacier.


fab kicking it


Out of the trees we took the snowshoes off.


upper mountain


Fabrice is just down below, cheering me on the radio.


summit plod


Nice windblown stretch to the top.


broad terrain


The broad connecting ridge from the top.


balfour


Mount Balfour.


hector


Mount Hector.


the wapta


North-west view towards the Wapta Icefield.


cairn


The summit cairn is quite flat!


quick descent


Coming back down was quick until we got to the creek.
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