Summit Elevation (m): 3050
Trip Date: Thursday, September 28, 2017
Elevation Gain (m): 1800
Round Trip Time (hr): 12
Total Trip Distance (km): 27
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 2- you fall, you sprain your wrist
Difficulty Notes: The long approach and endless ascent slopes combined with the total elevation gains are the biggest challenge on this peak. No technical difficulties.
Technical Rating: SC5; RE4
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
Over the years, Dr. Phil and I had been eyeing up a couple of easy ascents, rising over the Red Deer Lakes in the Skoki backcountry of Banff National Park and on the western edge of the Drummond Icefield. When we finally scrambled up Mount Drummond in late September, 2015, our interest in Cyclone Mountain and Pipestone Mountain increased. In late September 2017, it was finally time to go check them out a bit closer. Rick Collier details a trip that he and Mardy Roberts did back in June of ’92 where they traversed from Pipestone to Cyclone Mountain as a day trip. He mentions several obstacles in his typical underhanded way, including some problematic cliff bands and the fact that Mardy even required a short rope for one section. Phil and I decided that in order to keep things reasonable and easy, we would ascend one peak at a time, book-ending the trip with long hikes through the gorgeous larch country that comes along for the ride with approaching and egressing these remote peaks. We also planned a side excursion to the so-called Shingle Flats under Mount Drummond so that Phil could obtain some soil samples for work from Douglas and Drummond Creek. This would add at least 6-7km each way from the Red Deer Lakes campground – a not insignificant distance but one that would satisfy our desire for more hiking views.
Interesting Facts on Cyclone Mountain
Named by J.W.A. Hickson in 1910. A storm was raging on the mountain when its name was chosen. J.W.A. Hickson, E. Feuz sr., and E. Feuz jr. were looking for a route on the mountain at the time. Official name.
The weather shaped up beautifully towards the end of the last week of September and I hiked up Odlum Ridge the day before rather than ‘waste’ such gorgeous fall conditions. By the time we had our bikes ready for the ~4km uphill grunt of the Lake Louise ski-out, I was seriously wondering if my legs could handle the long days ahead of them. As usual, I was willing to find out the hard way for some reason. The uphill ride was its usual grumpy self, but within 45 minutes of leaving the parking lot we were already locking up the bikes and preparing for the hike. We both wore light footwear for this trip and took a bit of a risk leaving crampons and alpine axes in the car. Although the Rockies had received some snow over the past week, there was already a significant amount of melting going on and we assumed we’d deal with any snow on our routes quite easily considering the fairly tame terrain we’d be moving through.
The hike up to Boulder Pass went by quickly. A hard frost provided us with some neat photos but by the time we crested the pass in the strong morning sun, any thoughts of being cold were instantly gone and all the extra layers came off. By 10:00 we were hiking around a gorgeously still Ptarmigan Lake in our t-shirts. What a day! There was absolutely no wind as we climbed towards Deception Pass. Our views back towards Redoubt Mountain looming over Ptarmigan Lake were impressive, as usual. We scoured the landscape in vain for the tell-tail sign of the resident Grizzlies. Despite the dire Parks Canada warnings for the Skoki area, we saw very little fresh sign the whole time we were in the area – and we covered a large swath of it. The larches around Ptarmigan Lake and Deception Pass were absolutely stunning – they seemed to be lit up from the inside, they were so bright. From Deception Pass we got our first glimpse of Cyclone Mountain. We were glad to see only a skiff of snow covering it’s easy upper slopes. Our decision to once again travel very light was looking like a good one.
As we descended towards the Skoki Lodge, we were a bit surprised by the faded larches visible around the Skoki Lakes to our left. We wondered why those ones would be obviously past their prime when the Ptarmigan Lake and Boulder Pass trees were at their height of color? No matter, we continued down the trail which was in fantastic shape compared to our 2015 experience with mud and horse damage. Within 3.5 hours of leaving the truck we were turning off towards the Red Deer Lakes campground.
There was still frost nipping the shady areas as we marched along through the forest. We were surprised to come upon a group of deer munching on some bushes, who really didn’t seem too bothered by our presence! When we first spotted the deer, my heart briefly leapt out of my chest – spotting a moving patch of grey in the bushes right beside us made me think we’d finally run into a Skoki Grizzly. I have to say, considering the many kilometers and hours I’ve spent hiking and scrambling in the Skoki area, I am surprised that I have yet to see a Grizzly there. We watched the animals peacefully feed for a bit before continuing down the trail and running into our first humans of the day. They were coming from the Baker Lake campground and heading for Merlin Meadows and we briefly chatted before continuing our separate ways.
We were excited to see the largest of the Red Deer Lakes, shimmering in the still, warm air in front of us as we approached it from the campground. This lake is a brilliant shade of blue and with the fall colors lighting up all around it, it becomes a very special place to visit. Our two peaks were looming impressively above the lake – it was hard to believe Cyclone was “only” 1000 vertical meters to go – it seemed much higher from a comfortable spot along the lakeshore. After taking a short break, we hung all our extra camping gear on a tree near the trail and continued on the Little Pipestone trail towards Cyclone’s lower south slopes with light packs and high spirits. It was a good day to be alive.
Anyone who’s experienced a perfect fall day in the Rockies like we did on Cyclone Mountain will understand what I’m talking about when I use words like “soul food” or “refreshing”. The air was cool but the sun was warm. There wasn’t a breath of wind as we walked through a landscape bursting with reds, oranges, yellows and greens. Looking back at the Red Deer Lakes, they were a shimmering mirage of liquid emerald and azure. Birds were chirping their cheerful, but waning summer songs in the cool air of the forest around us. Our thoughts wandered aimlessly as we started up the lightly forested south slope of Cyclone Mountain – aiming for an obvious drainage centering a slide path.
Once we reached the lower slopes of the large slide path, the going temporarily got a bit rough in low scrub as we struggled to reach the rocky drainage running down the center of it. We found and followed the rocky drainage up to a large scree and slab gully before going slightly left and up easy rubble slopes just to the west. (We descended the gully proper later in the day, taking advantage of gravity with its loose nature.)
The south scree slope to the false summit of Cyclone were extremely fast and easy to ascend. Some short sections were annoyingly loose, but intermittent slabs and the nature of the scree was such that we did very little backsliding and our light footwear worked out better than we could have hoped for. With incredible views and very easy scrambling, it quickly became apparent that the only reason Cyclone Mountain isn’t summitted more often than it is, is its remoteness. Most people that are in the area are either backpacking through it (i.e. no time or inclination for summits) or skiing through in the winter. As a day trip it is prohibitive and there are many other closer options, such as the many “Kane” peaks in the Skoki area. Regardless of its obscurity, Phil and I were slowed by the great views that just kept getting better and more unique as we got higher. I will admit though – by the time we finally realized we were targeting a “false” summit, we were ready to top out. Such is the nature of most mountains, I suppose.
Just when we thought we were close, we still had a few hundred vertical meters to go. We were briefly distracted by the sight of a magnificent mountain Billy Goat on a ridge beside us. Witnessing such a wild and pure scene as the white goat with huge mountains of snow and rock looming behind it was a highlight of the trip for me.
We finally topped out at around 16:00 – 8 hours after leaving the parking lot. Not that bad, actually, and putting Cyclone within a day trip for hardcore peakbaggers with a bike approach. We spent quite a bit of time at the top, donning toques and gloves in the cool, late afternoon breezes. Cyclone offers amazing views of the many unnamed peaks on the Drummond Icefield and the two other named summits – Drummond and Pipestone. Of course, many other summits were visible and the views over the Red Deer Lakes were breathtaking.
As the sun continued to dip lower to the west we tore ourselves away from the great views and started to head back down to the Little Pipestone trail far below. For our descent we chose to try shortcutting down the large gully we’d ascended next to on climber’s left. This gully starts under the false summit and was easily attained on loose scree. The scree run was awesome – allowing us to drop over 250 vertical meters in mere minutes before getting back into slightly larger rocks and some slabs. Nothing was difficult, however, and soon we were back in the cool forest and heading for the trail.
Our day wasn’t over when we hit the Little Pipestone trail. We had plans to travel all the way to Shingle Flats in order to allow Phil the opportunity to get his soil samples. We had permits from Parks Canada to allow this, of course. With at least 6km of hiking still ahead of us, we loaded up our packs with the gear we’d stashed before hiking happily towards Mount Drummond. The trail was in much better condition than in 2015. We both remembered the forested trail between the warden’s cabin and Shingle Flats as interminable, but this time it seemed to pass by very quickly and easily.
As we tramped past the “Natural Bridge” turnoff through the forest, I saw a figure walking towards us in the growing darkness (it was close to 19:00 by this time). He was wearing a yellow fleece and I knew immediately who it was. In a very strange coincidence, we just happened to run into Raf, on his way back from a solo ascent of Mount Drummond. Even stranger – he was the second person that day to summit the remote peak that usually sees much less than one ascent per year! We briefly chatted before parting ways – we both had a long way to travel yet, but Raf would certainly be arriving at his Bake Lake camp well into darkness. As the quiet evening settled in along the toe of the Drummond Glacier and the Red Deer River running through Shingle Flats, we set about preparing for the next day – an ascent of Pipestone Mountain.
