Summit Elevation (m): 2650
Trip Date: Saturday, June 9, 2007
Elevation Gain (m): 1200
Round Trip Time (hr): 7
Total Trip Distance (km): 14
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 3 – you fall, you break something
Difficulty Notes: Some moderate scrambling and loose terrain along with limited route finding make this a moderate scramble.
Technical Rating: SC6; YDS (3rd)
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
On Saturday, June 09 2007, Wietse, Jeff and I all headed out to Kananaskis country to scramble another mountain. Again, we were ‘forced’ to choose a front-range peak. We chose Holy Cross because it sounded kind of fun. It was kind of fun – not outstanding, but fun nonetheless. The hike into this mountain is fairly long. We went up the Grass Pass trail past Gunnery Peak on our left. I would recommend sticking more to the left side of the valley, as a matter of fact if you come around the southeast slopes of Holy Cross above tree line you will actually be on a fairly good goat path.
We went a bit too low on the way in, but the bonus was that we discovered a very nice waterfall before having to regain our 100 meters back again. 😐 We broke through the low cliff band guarding the northeast ridge of Holy Cross near the crest of the ridge and continued up, staying right on the ridge where the most exciting scrambling can be found.
You can bypass any of the fun on climber’s left but I wouldn’t suggest it – you worked hard for all this fun.
After making the exhilarating traverse to the true summit from the north ridge we quickly dropped back down onto the ‘cross’ part of the mountain for a nice glissade down. There were dark clouds threatening us most of the day. The snow was wet but the ride was fast.
The trek out was filled with flower pictures and 7 hours after leaving the car we were back.
