Fox, Mount
Trip Report
Since I had scrambled Mounts Pilot, Brett, Burstall and Storm over the previous 2 days I figured it was time for a short and easy mountain. I chose Mount Fox.
Short? No.
Easy? No.
Ooops. Oh well.
Fun? Yes!
I was joined by Harvey, an active scrambler and hiker from Calgary who I was introduced to by Marta. Harvey met me at the Elk Pass trailhead at 0800 on Wednesday September 02 2009 and we were soon pushing (!) our bikes up the hill towards Elk Pass.
I was looking forward to Mount Fox for a long time. Some people swore it was the hardest scramble in Alan Kane's books while other dismissed it as 'easy'. I knew it wasn't going to be 'easy' but didn't know what to expect, especially given my mental and physical state after a week of pretty intense peak bagging. (I'd also done TV, Fairview and Cascade the week before...)
Harvey and I chatted and biked our way into Elk Lakes Provincial Park. It turns out that we have a lot in common and the bike ride flew by quickly. Harvey has done a lot of skiing in the area and that helped us stay on the right trails. After ditching the bikes we began the 3.5km hike into Frozen Lake. The hike was boring but the lake was gorgeous! It's worth an outting simply to see this lake and it's pristine surroundings.
Once at the lake we could see our objective and it looked great! We accessed the ridge via steep grassy slopes and took a moment to don our helmets before heading up the 600 vertical meters of intense scrambling.
Dave Stephens mentions that "Personally, I would have put the route more on the easier side of "difficult", but still difficult" on the webboard. I'm not sure if he was trying to be flip or just trying to get a rise out of the other members on the board but Fox is most certainly NOT on the 'easier side of difficult' - that would be mountains like Warspite and Galatea. Fox is on the same level as Smuts and Northover except much longer, looser and sustained difficulty.
The 600 vertical meters of ridge to the summit of Mount Fox is more difficult than most other scrambling I've done so far (and mountaineering for that matter). The reason? There is absolutely no room for error. Other people have mentioned that the rock was 'solid' but that makes me wonder if I was even on the same mountain as them! The reason there's no room for error is that most hand / foot holds are NOT solid at all - even if they seem that way. There are some solid sections of the ridge and they are a lot of fun but the higher you go, the more loose and exposed the terrain becomes. if you don't like the first 100 vertical meters you should turn around because that's the easy stuff.
I'm not trying to exaggerate or scare anyone off this mountain but you should know that this is not a mountain to take lightly either. The scrambling is fun and the views are amazing but if you slip even once, it's "game over"...
Harvey led the way up the ridge quickly. A few times he went up terrain that I wasn't sure we could down climb so I would check out alternate 'side routes' - and usually found them. We both mentioned more than once how much fun the scrambling was - especially at first when the rock was fairly solid.
After coming to a slightly overhanging cliff band (only 3-4 feet high) the scrambling became even more exposed and difficult. I led the way through the pinnacle and only briefly considered squeezing through the hole in it before descending the other side and traversing on a scarily loose and exposed ledge before regaining the ridge. Harvey followed my lead over the ledge - this should have been backed up with a rope and some pro because that ledge will not last for much longer and you don't want to be the one on it when it fails!
No other trip reports really mention the terrain after the pinnacle to the summit ridge and Kane simply calls it a 'scree bash' but I disliked this part - especially on the way down. Again, there is no room for error and the loose scree and slabby terrain conspire to throw you down the mountain with every step. The summit ridge is fantastic with great views - especially after the previous night's rain storms cleared the air of smoke.
After a short summit stay we headed back down. It seemed to take a long time but we had great weather and slowly picked our way back down the ridge. The loose scree at the top of the ridge was some of the worst terrain and once over the pinnacle we enjoyed ourselves until finally off the rock again. We both agreed that Fox was a great scramble and I put it on my top 10 - Harvey wasn't ready for that kind of commitment yet! :-)
The hike out to the bikes was hot and the bike ride out was fast and fun - I love bike approaches! Our round trip time was around 8 hours.
Fox is a highly recommended outing for people who are comfortable on steep, exposed and sometimes very loose terrain and LOTS of it!
Fall colors, Harvey and Mount Fox. We scrambled up the ridge facing us, just right of center.
Panorama of Frozen Lake with the entire ascent ridge going up from right to left (click to view full size):
The steep ridge that accesses the scramble has lots of larches on it. A few more weeks and the area will be even more scenic.
Harvey marches towards the ridge:
The lower part of the ridge is pretty solid:
Can you spot Harvey? The terrain is more serious here.
Harvey tops out near the pinnacles.
Harvey coming through the notch in the pinnacle:
You can just spot Harvey in the lower right of the photo traversing the scary and loose ledge under the pinnacle. Others avoid this by squeezing through a window in the pinnacle and coming down the other side of it.
On the summit ridge with the climbing ridge going down to the right and the Highwood range in the background.
Harvey makes his way to the summit:
Frozen and Fox lakes from the summit with Rae, Storelk and Storm behind.
Summit panorama (click to view full size):
Great summit views:
Mount Joffre and the Petain Glacier:
Closer:
Mount Foch on the right:
The Kananaskis Lakes and Valley North of the summit:
Sir Douglas and the Haig ice field:
Harvey is glad to be almost at the summit!
Vern and Harvey on the summit of Mount Fox:
Kane humor... ;-)
The terrain after the pinnacles, just before the summit ridge is loose and slabby - my least favorite part on Fox, especially on the way down.
Harvey comes down through the chimney in the pinnacle:
It works better this way!
More fun ridge:
Looking back at another steep section:
Carefully going around a smaller pinnacle:
A slip was always possible and we were very cautious on all the ridge sections because a slip was always deadly too.
Great views all day.
Harvey pulls a mean face after 'conquering' Fox!
Of course Harvey can't keep a mean face for long!
A nice long break after finishing the difficult scrambling on descent.
