Engadine, Mount

Published by vdewit on April 29th, 2009

Trip Details

Trip Activity:

Scramble

Attained Summit?:

Yes

Location:

Kananaskis Country

Trip Date:

May 28, 2005

Summit Elevation:

2,970m

Summit Elevation (ft):

9,745ft

Trip Report

There are two reasons why Kane rated Mount Engadine as a 'difficult' scramble. One is the nature of the ridge itself. Long extents of 'no-fall' zones coupled with loose rock and tricky downclimbs make this a much more difficult climb than even other difficult scrambles such as Lady McDonald. The other reason Engadine earns its difficult rating is the nasty bushwhack required to attain the lower ridge - it's a difficult undertaking! There really is no trail and even the game trails are misleading because they are not generally trying to bag the peak.

Engadine was a real pleasure for me. Other than briefly getting lost on some really loose and nasty terrain in the way back down, I thoroughly enjoyed the exposure on the ridge. The fact that the weather was calm and warm and I had the entire mountain to myself only helped me enjoy it even more! As a matter of fact I had so much fun on the way up the ridge, I decided rather than get lost in the bush on the way down, I'd come back down the ridge too. There were several times on the way up that I seriously wondered if there was too much snow or the ridge looked too narrow but each time I'd press on and things would be exciting all over again!

If you decide to do this mountain make sure you've already done other difficult ones. This is a bad place to learn that you really don't like ridges and loose rock after all! Kane almost makes it sound like you can 'easily' bypass all the difficult areas by sticking to right-hand scree slopes but these slopes are nasty scree - kind of like Sparrowhawk only much steeper. If you aren't planning on doing the ridge I'd say "don't bother"!

Don't look for a trail off of the Buller Creek hiking trail - you won't find one. Simply make a decision to branch to the right and go for it. There's no nice way to put this. Gaining the ridge sucks big-time. The sooner you can get yourself up onto the ridge the better off you'll be. I got lucky and after a short scramble up a ramp to my left I turned right up the ridge and never looked back! (But I should have so I'd recognize the terrain on my way back down...) Right away you'll be tested on whether or not you wish to continue. The ridge only gets narrower and more exposed so if at any point before the final 200 meters of scree you get scared, well don't!

After finally getting past the overhang (lose about 150 feet of height) I came to the last screen slope. Due to unstable snow I was 'forced' to take the slabs to the right. They were much better than the scree but the loose rocks on top of the slabs resulted in sore hands from constantly having to get my balance! I topped out on the summit to a wind-free and glorious view.

The only thing harder than going up the ridge is coming back down it. So naturally that's what I decided to do! I needed practice on my downclimbs and I got it! When I got near the bottom of the ridge I forgot where I had gained the ramp and went too low. This resulted in me making some dumb decisions and ultimately I found myself going back up terrain that I couldn't believe I had just come down. The worst moment had me clinging desperately onto a patch of moss with both hands while my feet slipped out from under me and I dangled briefly over 100 feet of thin air... After that excitement I managed to find out where I had missed the ramp and quickly headed back to the car.

Good thing I was making lots of noise through the bush (lots of bear scat) because there was a really big black bear not 100 meters from the trailhead. I watched him for a long time and it capped a wonderful day.