Summit Elevation (m): 2088,
Trip Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Round Trip Time (hrs): Unknown
Elevation Gain (m): 750
Total Trip Distance (km): 6
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 2/3 – you fall, you sprain or break something
Difficulty Notes: Mostly hiking and easy scrambling with some loose terrain and minor exposure along ridges.
Technical Rating: SC5; YDS (3rd)
GPS Track: Download
Map: Google Maps
This was a surprising scramble. It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. My sister was out for a few days and being from Manitoba she has never climbed a mountain before. Since I couldn’t take a whole day off work I figured I would give these two front-range peaks a shot. My wife and sister made it almost to the top and then I got impatient and quickly made it to the two summits and re-joined them.
On hindsight we should have stuck to the ridge all the way up. There is a trail which skirts the ridge and I took it because I wasn’t sure if my sister would like a ridge or not. The trail stays well below the ridge which is fine until you have to go up steep slabs with loose scree to attain the summit. This is where I left them behind. Once you’ve made it to Door Jamb ‘mountain’ (I’m surprised it’s a separate named peak) you can very easily scoot over to Loder peak for some nice Bow Valley and prairie views. I’m surprised more people don’t do this short-but-enjoyable scramble. Maybe they do and figure it isn’t worth bragging about. I agree with canadasmountains.com that this one is more interesting then the much more popular Heart Mountain just across the street.
