Burstall, Mount
Trip Report
After scrambling Mount Pilot and Brett the day before and driving all the way to Elkwood campground in Kananaskis I was ready for a shorter and easier day. I chose to finally do Mount Burstall since it had been on my radar for a long time already.
There is no magic to getting this peak. Make sure you're far enough up the trail before venturing up the valley - you should be on a faint trail the entire way. When I did this peak there was an obvious cairn and some flagging. I've read of people venturing up the climber's right side to access the col but this is usually regretted by those who attempt it. The terrain is steeper and more exposed than it looks from below. I went on the rock rib that you see between the two black scree slopes and this worked really well.
I was surprised by the loose and steep terrain after the col. This is certainly a difficult scramble with no room for error pretty much from the col to the summit. I thought the crack was safer than a lot of the terrain that proceeded it simply because I didn't feel like I was going to slip out of the solid rock in the crack!
The summit was nice but with a rain cloud heading my way I felt a little rushed the whole time I was on Burstall. My round trip time was just over 3 hours and it did end up raining just to the east - and you really don't want rain on this little peak. Great views from the top and interesting scrambling with a very short round trip time - I highly recommend this peak to competent scramblers.
The faint trail leads you through a short stand of trees and onto an avi slope where you can see up to the col. I went on the obvious rock rib running between the two black scree slopes on the left side of the picture. People have been suckered onto steep, exposed terrain on climber's right and most regret it.
Interesting clouds over the Spray Valley as I get higher towards the col.
Looking over at CEGFNS, Murray, Robertson and French.
High above the col looking west:
Steep and loose terrain above the col. I forgot my poles and only had a stick for support here. This was really too bad and made me feel very insecure through this section.
Great view of Birdwood and Commonwealth:
View from the summit looking west:
Looking towards Nestor, Galatea, Tower, Gusty and Fortress:
Vern, not quite ready for the summit photo! :-)
Summit panorama (click to view full size):
Heading back down:
Looking down some exposed down climbing near the summit:
One of the cracks you have to down climb. Make sure you carefully note your route on the way up because it is possible to get lured off route on the way back down and this could be very unpleasant... ;-)
Looking back up at the difficult scrambling on Burstall Peak.
