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I made it this time!

After a previous attempt at the summit of Jimmy Simpson with Raff and Josh in January of 2007 I returned 3.5 years later and bagged it via the other side on a gorgeous fall day. Ironically there was probably more snow in October than we had in January!

Originally I had a trip planned with Kerry to do Cathedral Mountain. Due to fresh snow of unknown quantity and an aversion to a 03:00 wake-up time we canceled those plans on Friday evening. I knew what I'd replace it with! I was in the mood to try a solo jaunt up Jimmy Simpson.

Simpson is the only peak out of 265 that I've done so far, where I turned back due to low energy levels while the rest of my party successfully bagged the peak. (NOTE: TJ Nault just informed me on February 20 2011 that in fact Raff and Josh did NOT summit Jimmy Simpson and I did NOT miss a summit on that trip. They were 1.5 km from the true summit when they though they'd bagged the peak. Raff has since confirmed this.) This fact has been bothering me for quite some time already and with a perfect weather forecast and the promise of superb views I was in a good mood as I left the Bow Lake parking lot. There was about 2 inches of fresh snow on the ground and the temperature was a chilly -6 degrees but I soon warmed up on the excellent trail around Bow Lake.

I knew that there was a difficult scramble route up the SSW ridge of Simpson but with the fresh snow, the fact that I was solo and the fact that nobody else seems to ascend this peak I decided to try an easier route that I've had in the back of my mind for a while already. This route essentially follows the ski ascent route up avalanche gullies on the south side of the peak, well to the west of the scrambling route. I wasn't sure exactly where to start my ascent but this made the trip more fun!

I hiked the Bow Glacier Falls trail past the turnoff to the ACC Bow Hut trail. A short time after this branch the trail descends back to gravel flats. At this point I turned climbers right and started up an obvious avalanche gully. I stuck to climbers left of the gully, simply to avoid walking on rocks and boulders that were all slicked up from the fresh snow. This worked well and I largely avoided any bushwhacking too! It was very lucky that I chose this line. When I reached tree line and the upper part of the bowl I happened on my first cairn. It was large and I could see a whole line of cairns guiding my route through a small cliff band. If I was any lower my day would have been tougher for sure.

After the cliff band traverse I still had a long way to go. I aimed for the upper col and trudged on! The slope steepens up to the col but it wasn't a big deal and the sun was warm on my back. The scenery was already stunning and I knew I was in for a treat on the summit.

The summit looked a long ways off as I trudged up to the col but again, the views made me keep going. The wind got a lot colder the higher I went. I reached the summit almost exactly 3 hours after leaving the car - not a long day by any means, but it felt bigger than it was because of the snow and isolation. The views did not disappoint! Especially cool were the lakes that were not frozen over yet. Combined with the fresh snow, the aqua color of the water was a unique combination that I haven't seen outside of spring climbs. I spent about 40 minutes on the summit before my frozen fingers forced me to descend.

The descent went great until I decided to shortcut my ascent route at the cairn that I first saw on my way up. I figured there had to be more cairns and since I didn't see any on my ascent route, I decided to descend on skier's left - well to the east of my ascent line. I ended up in thick bush and steep cliffs! By some small miracle I managed to find my way through the cliff bands but it involved difficult down climbing and loose terrain. NOT recommended and NOT worth it! Oh well. :)

A highly recommended trip on a day where you want amazing views and an easy scramble.

Bow Lake was surreal in the early morning sunlight (click to view full size):

The back of Bow Lake is a very scenic spot too. Nicholas on the left, Portal and Thompson in the middle and Jimmy Simpson on the top right (click to view full size):

My route traversed just under cliff bands to the west. You have to be careful not to get suckered onto them.

Looking ahead at my route as I get higher. Sticking to climber's left worked really well once I got above tree line.

Looking at the remainder of the route. Traverse left along cliff band and then make for the col. At the col go climber's right to the summit.

Looking back at my route from half way along the cliffs: 

The col looks close but it's a grunt from here with loose scree and some rockfall from upper right.

Man! That looks far... But it's pretty easy!

The Wapta looks great from the ascent slopes. From left to right you can see Crowfoot, Vulture, Balfour, Olive, Nicholas, Gordon, Portal and Thompson:

Vern on the summit of Jimmy Simpson.

The south Wapta from the summit (click to view full size):

The north Wapta including Rhondda, Habel, Baker, Trapper, Peyto, Mistaya and Caldron (click to view full size):

The register was 15 years old and full.

Looking northeast across the Icefields Parkway towards Mount Weed.

Mount Willingdon is plastered in snow:

Rhondda, Habel from the summit:

I love the shape of Mount Baker.

Looking towards Howse Peak:

I love how the lakes aren't frozen yet and still look green. The Wapta looks very skiable already!

Crowfoot, Vulture and Balfour.

Bow Lake from the summit:

Mount Hector looms over Bow Peak and Crowfoot Pass:

Looking back at the cliff traverse and my ascent / descent route:

Not the recommended descent route!! :D

Gorgeous scenery as I hike back along Bow Lake to my car.

On Saturday, January 27 2007 Raff and Josh summited Mount Jimmy Simpson while Vern ran out of energy and willpower about an 3/4 of an hour before the summit.

The details:

Because of avalanche danger on the regular approach to Jimmy Simpson from Bow Lake, Raff took Josh and I on a grinder of a trip from Peyto Lake instead. We certainly avoided an avi concerns because there was no snow at all!! ;-)

I knew it wasn't my day when I did a face plant in the snow about 2 minutes after leaving the truck... So why didn't I summit?

1. Face Plant.
2. Bushwhack from hell. To get to Peyto Lake you have to basically do the hike to Hidden Lake but on skis! And you lose about 100m so you have to look forward to doing this all over again at the end of the day.
3. After FINALLY getting to the moraines at the end of the lake we had to carry our skis due to lack of snow. We couldn't even ski down without skins because we'd be hitting too many rocks!
4. After carrying our skis up to the weather station we had to descend to cross the Peyto valley to walk up the backside of Simpson. Hence we realized that we should have left our skis back at the terminal moraine! Walking it AT boots for over 6km really sucks!
5. After descending all the way down to the toe of the glacier we weren't sure what was our peak. I saw a cairn on one of them but Raff insisted that Jimmy Simpson was a lot further. I lost my will to summit at this point because we knew we'd be coming back in the dark and I wasn't in the mood for that bushwhack in the dark!
6. After going a good way up the backside (about 150 vert. meters from the summit) I took a look at the far peak and realized I did NOT have the energy or desire to bag that one.
7. I turned around after getting Raff's key and made it back to the truck just as it got dark. It was a nightmare getting back because of all the height we needed to regain and carrying the skis back didn't help the morale any!

It turns out that what I thought was the peak really WAS the peak and Raff and Josh nailed it. They came back to the truck in the dark, over 2 hours later than me. Congratulations to them for summiting and I learned the valuable lesson to bring my GPS on every trip so that we know ahead of time exactly where the darn summit is! ;-) It was still a good workout for me after a long hiatus from peak bagging and I did experience a beautiful day in an area I've never been to before.

Outliers of Mount Patterson catch the early morning sun as we cross Peyto Lake.

Raff and Josh come up the creek (!!) behind me after crossing Peyto Lake.

Peyto Peak towers above the approach route. There's some impressive waterfalls in there too - are you reading this Jason?

Raff lugs his boards up the moraine. You can clearly see the trail snaking up the lower moraine behind him. We should have ditched the skis there already.

Raff and Josh taking a breather on top of the moraine before heading down to the weather station. You can see a snow-free Cauldron Peak in the background (on the right).

One of the reasons I turned back was because of where we initially thought the true summit was. A GPS would've helped here! Notice how much height we have to lose to cross over to Jimmy Simpson from the moraine. This is not cool.

Looking back down our ascent route to the top of the moraine. We still had to descend to the valley at least 120m before going back up Simpson.

Can you spot the five people heading up the Wapta?

Raff and Josh pretending we skied the whole approach. Mount Thompson is in the background. We left our skis here and continued on foot.

Mount Baker catches the afternoon sun.

Peyto Peak looks spectacular from this angle!

Josh and Raff are far ahead of me. I decided to turn around here.

I still got in some awesome views which almost made the bushwhack worth it! ;-)

Some more Wapta peaks for me to bag.

Another view of the backside of Mount Jimmy Simpson and the reasons for our confusion as to the true summit.

The late day sun shines on Mount Weed and other peaks along the icefields parkway as I make my way back across Peyto Lake solo, 2 hours ahead of the other guys.

Cauldron Peak with the brilliance of a late day sky above.