Yukness, Mount

Published by vdewit on April 28th, 2009

Trip Details

Trip Activity:

Scramble

Attained Summit?:

Yes

Location:

Yoho National Park

Trip Date:

September 30, 2006

Summit Elevation:

2,847m

Summit Elevation (ft):

9,341ft

Trip Report

On Saturday, September 30 2006, Sonny, Wietse and I hooked up to scramble Mount Yukness in Yoho National Park.

The timing was impecable. Not only was the weather absolutely fantastic and the larches out in fall glory but it also just happenned to be the very last day of the season that the bus was going to leave late enough (18:30) for us to use it! We also timed our arrival at the parking lot perfectly because we actually managed to get on an 08:30 bus.

After the 20 minute bus ride (best 15 bucks I've spent in a while!) we arrived at the busy environs of the Lake O'Hare region. I was kind of surprised / disappointed by the amount of development but my disappointment soon vanished once we started up the West Opabin trail. For the rest of the day the views only got better with each step to the summit. The scrambling was fantastic on this little mountain. From easy trails to more difficult near the summit it was a good mix and thoroughly enjoyable.

We were a bit surprised with how well the trail was marked - there were more cairns on this trail than I think I've ever seen! We had no routefinding issues at all until we were less than 100 vertical meters from the summit. We actually traversed too far under the summit ridge. Basically once you run out of cairns, backtrack until you get to a cairn and then go up from there! About half way up that gully, look to your right and traverse one gully to climber's right - again you should be following cairns. If you don't traverse right you will encounter some difficult and exposed climbing and if you're like Sonny you'll knock rocks on your partner! ;-) Sonny and Wietse took the hard route while I happily took the 'right' one. (pun intended)

Once at the summit we were treated to some unbelievable views. Included in our summit panorama were Huber, Victoria, Lefroy, Glacier, Ringrose, Biddle, the Goodsirs, Odaray, Stephen, Cathedral Mountain and Crags, Niles, Balfour...! Since the scrambling was so much fun and we had so much time left until our bus ride back, we decided to bag every highpoint on the whole mountain. We went back down from the summit and traversed over to the col. On the way we bagged a nice 'nub' - actually pictured in Kane's route description. From the col we went back up to the Southwest summit and enjoyed the same views as before from a slightly different point of view.

We had no issues on the descent. All-in-all a very enjoyable and relaxing day out with lots of time for discussions and pictures. This is a highly recommended outing!

The morning started off quite cool, but that didn't stop the views!

Lawrence Grassi's trail building skills are second to none. We approach Opabin Lake.

Mount Biddle shows up over Opabin Lake.

Sonny and Wietse just after reaching the col with the northwest summit, Huber and Victoria in the background.

A close-up of Sonny and Wietse traversing over to the summit ridge.

Sonny and Wietse stop for a chat on their way to the summit of Mount Yukness.

Mount Lefroy (left) and Glacier Peak (right) loom over Lake Oesa to the northeast of Yukness.

It's Mount Huber's (left) and Mount Victoria's (right) turn to loom.

Ringrose Peak (left) almost looks as tall as Mount Hungabee (right) from this angle. It is, of course almost 1000 feet shorter.

Mount Biddle towers over Opabin Pass and Prospector's Valley.

Wietse makes his way along the summit ridge of Yukness Mountain.

Abbot Hut is dwarfed by the terrain (lower left) - Mount Lefroy doesn't look so bad from this angle!

Odaray Mountain displays fall colors.

A close-up shot of Abbot Hut nestled in Abbot's pass between Mounts Victoria and Lefroy. That scree slog doesn't look like much fun but than again, neither does the 'death trap' from the other side!

Mounts Huber and Victoria in all their splendor and amazing colors.

Cathedral Mountain and Crags also show off a surprising amount of color.

Mount Niles (lower right) is dwarfed by Mount Balfour (upper right) in this shot.

I love this shot of Mount Owen to the southwest over Mount Schaffer.

I think this is Mount Vaux but if you can prove me wrong I'll change it! (yes, that's a challenge) :-)

Mount Stephen (Mount Carnarvon in background) is always impressive!

Mount Huber and the plunge into Lake Oesa.

Mount Sir Donald (80km away!!) is the pointy snowy peak and Uto Peak is the peak just to the right of Sir Donald.

This shot is over the north shoulder of Mount Owen. Sonny helps me to speculate that from left to right we could have Augustine, Dawson, Fox and Macoun (the flat one).

Sonny sets up this shot and I set him up! ;-)

The Opabin plateau and trails as seen from the summit of Yukness.

The Goodsir Towers.

Summit of Mount Yukness.

Click here to view panorama.

Sonny on the nice distracting pinnacle.

Descending the crux gulley.

Traversing to the northwest peak with the true summit, Ringrose and Hungabee in the background.

Third 'nub' of the day!

Sonny celebrates an awesome day out.

Vern on the northwest summit.

Wiwaxy Peaks are in the foreground with Cathredral Mountain and Crags along with Mount Stephen in the background as seen off the northwest summit of Mount Yukness.