Summit Elevation (m): 2173
Elevation Gain (m): 550
Trip Date: May 30 2008
Trip Time (hr): 3.5
Total Trip Distance (km): 4
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 3- you fall, you break something
Difficulty Notes: Nugara’s route is moderate scrambling with some exposure.
Technical Rating: SC6
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
On May 30, 2008 I joined Kevin Papke on the ‘mighty’ Limestone Peak in Kananaskis Country. So far the year 2008 has been pretty slow for me and mountains. Most of this is due to a priority shift on my part and the copious amounts of snow on the weather’s part. I tried getting up Limestone a few weeks ago but turned back because of the snow. On my first attempt I tried the Northwest ridge route. This is a hiking route – no problems at all but pretty boring. Kevin and I decided that the Nugara route sounded like more fun so we parked just past the Rocky Creek bridge and started up the left hand side of the creek, following flagging towards the Southeast ridge.
It didn’t take long to lose the flagging as the trees got a bit thicker and the trail got a bit thinner but we managed to make our way Northeast through moderate sections of bushwhacking – I’ve done much worse but it was thicker than I would have liked. Eventually we ended up scrambling steep grassy slopes up to the rocky outcrop of the Southeast ridge route. I could see right away that this was going to be more fun than the Northwest ridge. First of all the views are much better. Secondly, there is actually good, solid rock to scramble on. Third, I think the solid rock makes the route even faster than the Northwest one.
I was right. The Southeast ridge is a lot of fun. It’s a bit exposed and steep in places but we went right up the rib. If conditions are dry it is possible to bail to climber’s left any time you get tired of the fun bits. Of course with a height gain of less than 600 meters, there isn’t very much rib to scramble up! It didn’t take long and we were on the summit with great views to on every side, except East, which was blocked by The Wedge.
After about 20-30 minutes of soaking in the views we decided to try an alternate descent. Instead of going down to the Wedge / Limestone col, we only went down the first rib and then proceeded down between the two ribs on the east side of Limestone. This worked out pretty good – better than we thought it would. What didn’t work out well was Rocky Creek.
We were about 15 minutes from the car, along the right hand (skier’s) of the creek when we arrived at an impasse! Steep, rocky cliffs blocked our route. Kevin has bad experiences with fast flowing water, so I was surprised when he wanted to boot it across the raging Rocky Creek. Upon closer examination we decided it was too risky and instead we climbed up and around the cliffs that were blocking our route. This gave us around 150 extra vertical meters if nothing else.
The rest of the descent was uneventful. Highly recommended trip for fast days (we were 1 hour 10 minutes up) when you want a summit. Don’t bother with the alternate descent unless you like bushwhacking and streams.
