Explor8ion - a slice of infinity - Roche, Mount & Yarrow (Spread Eagle, Raptor, Eaglet)

Summit Elevation (m): 2484
Elevation Gain (m): 1000
Trip Date: September 27 2012
Round Trip Time (hr): 6
Total Trip Distance (km): 17
Quick ‘n Easy Rating: Class 3/4 – You fall you break something or worse
Difficulty Notes: A fall on the crux would severely injure or kill so take necessary precautions.
Technical Rating: SC7; YDS (4th)
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps

After scrambling Drywood Mountain I only had 1 Nugara scramble left in the Castle Wilderness, namely Mount Roche, or Spread Eagle Mountain. I couldn’t find any other trip reports of anyone taking Andrew’s ascent route but I thought it sounded fun and would be worth a try. His dire warnings about not being able to down climb it were a bit ominous though.

Mount Roche Route Map with Yarrow, “Eaglet” and “Raptor” all covered too.

Spread Eagle – Roche – Mountain

The day started out with a nice drive from my parking / camping area near the Pincher Ridge trailhead. I got a great sunrise photo of Spread Eagle Mountain and Mount Yarrow from the road. I parked where Nugara indicates and followed the cow trail up the east end of Spionkop Ridge where the trees fade out and the hiking is more open. Following Nugara’s directions I came to the scrambling sections soon enough.

Panorama of Yarrow and Roche from the drive. The route goes from center to left following the ridge over two obvious bumps.

The weather was once again gorgeous – no wind and dry rock. Smoky views were once again part of the day but I’ll take it over wind! The scrambling on Spread Eagle is excellent for the most part. There were some moments of consternation where I wondered if I was going to be able to find weaknesses, but if you’re an experienced Rockies scrambler there are weaknesses were Nugara says there are.

Getting closer to serious looking terrain.

Typical terrain once the scrambling starts.

I found the crux to be less exposed than I was expecting – I think with dry rock conditions it could be down climbed but you need long legs to do a stem move off the wall in order to do it. I compared it to Hawk Mountain’s (Jasper) crux but unfortunately there’s no obvious bypass on this one. The terrain after the crux was a bit of a surprise since Nugara basically says ” pick your way up” after the crux. I expected pretty tame terrain but it was continuous low-difficult scrambling with route finding all the way to the summit after the crux. Nothing too hard but I wasn’t expecting it. The rock was great and so were the views so I wasn’t complaining.

View to the west and north over the long ridge of Loaf Mountain which is at left of center. Spionkop Ridge just left of Loaf and Sage Mountain at far left. Drywood Mountain is just peeking over Loaf Ridge at right.

Panorama including the road that I walked out on. It’s tempting to descend this slope but you have to contour around the high point on the left first.

After reaching the summit I spent some time snacking and taking in the great views – especially west into Waterton and north to Loaf Mountain. When I was ready to continue, I began the traverse over to Mount Yarrow.

Mount Yarrow

Mount Yarrow is an unofficial peak on the southeast end of Spread Eagle (Roche) Mountain. It looked pretty close from the summit of Spread Eagle and I thought maybe 15 minutes would cover the traverse time to its summit. As with most ridge traverses, I underestimated the terrain that’s hidden in its curves. The traverse is pretty easy but there is more elevation loss than appears and more route-finding too. I took just over 30 minutes to make my way from Roche to Yarrow but it was worth every minute due to the excellent views both east and west along it.

Beautiful views east over Blind Canyon and out to the prairies beyond.

There was no cairn or register on either Roche or Yarrow, but that didn’t matter. I thoroughly enjoyed both summits in the perfect late September sunshine.

Looking back at Spread Eagle Mountain (Roche) from along the traverse.

My favorite views all day were looking west into Waterton from the traverse. Peaks include Glendowan, Newman, Spionkop and Loaf Mountain (L to R).

Looking across Yarrow Creek towards Cloudy Ridge with Dungarvon rising in the background and Glendowan at right.

Starting the long trek back along the ridge to Spionkop Col, which is left of Roche here. My ascent route up Roche starts at the small hills at far right to the summit along the ridge.

The descent was quick following Nugara’s description. I found the loose scree section would be awful to ascend – it was bad enough going down it due to rock fall. At least it was quick. The drainage led right to the road and I simply walked out from there. It was funny to meet the gas plant workers who thought I was lost. When I showed them where I’d come from they thought I was completely off my rocker. They couldn’t get over that I was solo – “what about bears”? I told them there was more risk of falling off the cliffs than getting mauled but they didn’t seem convinced.

From the high point just before descent looking back at Roche (center) and Yarrow (far right).

Beautiful larches (part of the “larch forest” Nugara mentions), the descent route goes down to the right here.

Here I went down and to skier’s right around cliff bands. You can see the stream bed I exited from at center bottom. Then I followed the road all the way out.

I highly recommend any of the Castle Management Area scrambles – they are colorful, interesting, bush-free (for the most part) and the rock is generally very good. For the best scrambling experiences on these peaks follow Nugara’s ascent routes if the rock is dry. Although some of them are difficult it’s good fun and with his easy hikes off you don’t have to worry about the down climbing. Unless you’re off route. Then you’re probably not going to have fun.