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Cory, Mount

Home » Mountains » Banff National Park
Published by vdewit on April 30th, 2009
Trip Details
Trip Activity: 
Scramble
Attained Summit?: 
Yes
Location: 
Banff National Park
Trip Date: 
July 1, 2004
Summit Elevation: 
2,802m
Summit Elevation (ft): 
9,193ft
Related Content
Interesting Facts: 
(info from peakfinder.com) Named in 1923. Cory, William Wallace (William Cory was the Deputy Minister of the Interior from 1905 to 1930.) Official name. Other names Hole in the Wall Mountain.    

Trip Report

On Thursday, July 01 I scrambled Mt. Cory with Sonny, Kelly and Dan. We left Calgary around 7am and summitted about 6 hours later in heavy cloud cover.

There's really only one thing you need to know for this scramble and that's to NOT follow the trail more then 10 yards before cutting off of it to the right. Bushwack your way to the ridge and after a short steep climb you'll be on top of the correct ridge. If you follow the trail you'll end up on a very steep scree slope in a gully and you'll be wishing you were somewhere else as your partner knocks rocks down at you! This is the descent gully and can not be recommended for going up.

Because of the undulating ridge you will gain over 5,000 feet of cumulative elevation and in case you're wondering the second summit is about 7 feet higher then the first one and contains the register. When we went we had to downclimb a very steep (but short) snow cornice below the first summit - no big deal as long as you control your slip speed...

I would rate this scramble as a moderate based on my previous experience. There were a few places on the ridge where the easiest route was a little bit exposed but definitely nothing serious. Route finding is really not an issue but you are quite committed once your on the ridge so in really nasty weather I would recommend a different objective. All-in-all an excellent and interesting scramble.

Columbine on the way up.