Alderson, Mount
Trip Report
On September 24th, 2005 the RMBooks Group or "Kane Troopers" got together for another group scramble. This time we found ourselves meeting in the Cameron Lake parking lot in Waterton National Park at 07:30.
The day started early for Sonny, Bob Parr and I as we met at Sonny's house at 04:30 and started the long drive down to Waterton and the rest of the group. When we finally pulled into the parking lot at Cameron Lake we noticed that there were two cars along with their drivers already getting ready for the scramble. Or so we thought. When we got closer we could see that Linda Breton and Eric Mango were the two early birds. We weren't even expecting Eric so that was a nice surprise!
Linda soon let us know that she would not be joining us. She didn't get any sleep and since she wanted to scramble on Sunday too, she passed on Saturday to save her knee - turns out that worked because she, James and Sonny did Blakiston and Hawkins the next day.
As we were standing around chatting, another vehicle pulled into the parking lot and out of it stepped two other 'new members' of our group, James and Kelly. A short time later the last member to join us for the day drove in - Frank didn't look like he was feeling too good and as it turns out he was still suffering from a migraine that set in the night before. He didn't let the pain stop him though and by 07:50 we were all (well not Linda! ;-)) tramping up the trail to Summit Lake.
Time passed by very quickly because we were chatting up a serious storm as Frank led us up past Summit Lake. In what seemed like no time at all we were grunting up to the Carthew / Alderson pass and found ourselves looking up at Mount Alderson's summit ridge stretching up above us. James and Sonny had already been to the top of Alderson and so they only joined the rest of us part of the way up. Eric led the group up the last 200 meters or so and soon we topped out to a gorgeous fall sun and no wind! If you've ever hiked or scrambled in Waterton you'll realize what a special treat it is to hike in Waterton under a clear, sunny, windless day. Usually you don't get all three of those together!
We chatted for a bit at the summit and Frank decided that he would not be continuing on. I can't say I blame him either, because even without a migraine the rest of the trip didn't look very easy! We could see that we had a lot of elevation to lose before heading up to Buchanan Peak and I for one was feeling the first peak already. Bob also decided that his recently sprained ankle would not hold up to the vigours of a 3-peak day and went back to Calgary with Frank while the rest of us continued on to Buchanan Peak.
 Summit Lake reflects a beautiful morning view as we make our way up to the Carthew - Alderson col. |
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 Sonny hikes up the Carthew Summit trail. |
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 The views keep getting better and better as we get higher and the colors are lit by the morning sun. |
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 Bob and Sonny heading up the lower slopes of Alderson. |
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 Sonny comes over the first obstacle on the ridge of Alderson. You by-pass this bump on climbers left. |
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 James and Kelly on the ridge with two guys coming down behind them. |
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 Eric makes his way along Alderson's ridge to the summit on the right of the photo. |
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 Buchanan Peak and Buchanan Ridge are in the center of this photo from the summit of Mount Alderson. |
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 Frank comes up to the summit of Mount Alderson. |
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 The group poses on top of Mount Alderson. From left to right, Vern, Frank, Bob, Kelly and Eric. |
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 Bob at the summit of Mount Alderson. |
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 Click for a larger Image. |
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 Carthew Lakes from the way down Mount Alderson, Buchanan Ridge is in the background. |
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