Summit Elevation (m): 3205
Trip Date: September 1 2024
Elevation Gain (m): 1150 (from Job Creek)
Round Trip Time (hr): 7.5 (from Job Creek)
Round Trip Distance (km): 16 (from Job Creek)
Reference Trip: Job Lake Excursions
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 3 – you fall, you break something.
Difficulty Notes: A very remote peak with some moderate scrambling and routefinding.
Technical Rating: SC6; RE5
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
When planning a Job Lake trip I always knew that I couldn’t get everything I wanted in one push, there is just too many interesting valleys, trails, lakes and summits in the Job / Cline PLUZ to nab them all at once. Decisions had to be made and priorities given. So far, Sara and I had been remarkably successful, nabbing every single objective without issue and staying relatively healthy along the way. As we descended Obstruction Mountain the day before, we’d discussed plans for the last full day of the trip and what we were in the mood for.
There were three options in front of us at this point. We could start the long exit, bag 1 remote peak (consume most of the 4th day) or bag 1 or 2 less remote peaks over the next two days while exiting. Obviously there were more options than this but these were the 3 we considered. Thankfully we came to the same conclusion, this is why we hike together I guess! We both agreed that rather than slog up 1 or 2 more “guaranteed” peaks with fairly straightforward routes, we’d rather push ourselves and try for something a little less known and much less certain. Night Rider was on my overall Job Lake plans but I wasn’t originally thinking it would be part of this trip. When Sara looked at the map and informed me that there was a trail leading into the west access valley I knew we had to try it and she agreed.
After a very long day the day before, we were up and at it again by 06:30 at our improvised camp along Job Creek on Sunday, the first day of September. I wasn’t sure I’d be feeling it this morning, but happily I most certainly was! We slowly got ready and abandoned camp, leaving the tents up to dry while we were gone. This would be our longest side trip at over 15 kms and an unknown route that we weren’t at all sure of. We wondered how much of a “trail” there would actually be and it didn’t take very long to find out. Within 2.5 minutes of leaving camp we were on a well-defined trail leading off into the west valley under Dark Storm Peak and it’s west outliers.
Without the trail this adventure would have been way more suck and would have taken a lot longer. Like almost all other front range valleys in the Rockies, willows are choking easy travel up to tree line and this valley was no different. The trail made the first 3 kms a pleasure instead of the nightmare it would have been. As it was, the trees and willows were growing in close and sometimes it felt like we were bushwhacking on trail! When we broke into the alpine we were greeted by yet another gorgeous landscape and started preparing for another grizzly encounter – it almost seemed inevitable at this point. The trail ended here but thankfully the willows also shrunk down and were a little easier to walk through as we made our way to the end of the valley under Night Rider’s south ridge.
My original ascent line ran up a scree ledge under the south ridge before hitting the summit near the top. Sara was quite keen on trying the south ridge direct but I was skeptical. As we slowly worked our way above the willows to a col at the south end of the ridge I wondered if the ridge might be the way to go after all. As we took in stunning views of Cloud Buster and an unnamed lake from the col we decided to give the ridge a go. It looked fun and moderate from this angle and the scree traverse looked dismal.
The next hour or so was nothing but fun hiking and scrambling. We couldn’t believe how easy the south ridge turned out to be, considering how it looked on the satellite maps. Views to Cloud Buster and Dark Storm over lush valleys and unnamed tarns were brilliant in the late summer sun and clear blue skies. Winds were light as we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
The crux of the ridge proved to be a short, steep step through a series of interesting rock pinnacles under the upper summit block. We managed to avoid this section on descent by utilizing a very steep rubble chute to climber’s left of this one. We stayed right on the ridge wherever possible until finally reaching the summit block where it seemed like we might have some difficult, exposed scrambling ahead. While Sara tip-toed her way over this section with some serious exposure, I descended a few meters before traversing easy rubble and ascending around it.
As we stepped onto the remote summit we wondered if the single rock sitting there was a cairn or not. After getting home and doing more in-depth research I realized that Tony and Gillean Daffern beat us up here way back in 1972! I wonder how many others have visited this peak in the past 52 years? Not many I bet.
Once again, time was slipping away as we took in the views from our lofty peak. Just as on Obstruction Mountain the day before, I had full LTE cell service. The thing that’s odd about these lofty Job / Cline mountains is that they are all visible from many other Rockies peaks (such as the Columbia Icefields) but nobody realizes it. But they are also front range, meaning you get cell service from stations to the east quite reliably. Reluctantly we turned around and started back down the ridge.
Descent of the south ridge was straightforward and fairly quick. The sun was hot as we exited the west valley and started back down the trail to Job Creek. I knew that this would be our last summit of the trip and I didn’t mind. It felt great to find a fun, easy route to the summit of such an obscure peak.
As we exited the very welcome and very narrow access trail to Job Creek and our camp, I meditated – and not for the first time on this trip – how extremely fortunate we are to enjoy trips like this. There are so many areas like this off the beaten track and far from roads and highways in our great country. Places to explore and to wonder at those who might have come before and felt the exact same way we did. We still had a long way and a lot of effort ahead of us as we strode into camp and prepared for the next high point of the day – Job Pass.
