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explor8ion

Tag : kananaskis lakes

Invincible, Mount

I have zero regrets scrambling Mount Invincible from its namesake creek. Sure! There were moderate amounts of bushwhacking and some very steep and exposed slabs, but this is what Rockies scrambling can be all about when you go off the beaten path and focus on more obscure peaks via obscure lines. I would certainly NOT call any part of scrambling this peak “easy” or even “moderate”. You should go in expecting plenty of routefinding to keep things 3rd-class with maybe a touch of 4th-class thrown in to keep you on your toes (literally)!

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Bike / Hike / Scramble / Spray Mountains / Trip Report 0

Forks Peak

Forks Peak had it all in the end. A frustrating start with a soaked trail and fresh snow greeted me. Then an unknown route worked out perfectly, getting me quickly to treeline and the upper south ridge. An intimidating summit was no more than difficult scrambling. Stunning views entertained me almost all day and I got to enjoy a fast bike ride at the end of it all. The best part was the deep solitude that I always seem to enjoy more than expected. This is a highly recommended outing for those looking for obscurity, distinct views and a healthy challenge.

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Bike / Hike / Scramble / Spray Mountains / Trip Report 4

Foch, Mount

I am happy that I found a quicker route and delighted with the amazing summit views from Mount Foch but I am conflicted about how many coins I used from my luck jar. There’s only so many of those and I like to keep it as full as possible.

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Alpine Climb / Joffre Group / Scramble / Trip Report 1

Lyautey, Mount

I first spotted the impressive hulk of Mount Lyautey in 2006 from an ascent of Mount Putnik as part of an engaging and entertaining Northover Ridge backpacking and peakbagging adventure. At the time I was only around 5 years into my scrambling career and wasn’t very familiar with the peaks all around me. Now, over a decade later I’ve been on most of their summits – but as of the morning of August 20th, 2017 I still had not stood on top of Mount Lyautey. In August of 2009 my interest in the mountain was once again sparked by two reported ascents in the span of just a few days – on a peak that had only seen a handful of total ascents since the 90’s!

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Joffre Group / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Nomad, Mount

On Friday, October 09 2015 Phil Richards and I decided that we should do a “pre-turkey” workout. Well, actually only I decided that, since Phil doesn’t eat turkey, but you get the point. Originally the weather was looking perfect. Naturally, as the day approached the weather deteriorated a bit but still looked reasonable enough to make the effort. We downgraded our original plans a bit and settled on Mount Nomad in Kananaskis Country, near the Upper Kananaskis Lake and Mount Indefatigable.

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Rockies / Scramble / Spray Mountains / Trip Report 0

Rawson Lake (Sarrail) Ridge

On December 22, Wietse and Dave did a snowshoe ascent of Rawson Lake Ridge. Wietse kindly let others in our group know that they had laid a snowshoe track up the ridge, which lies just to the north of Rawson Lake, and that we should take advantage of it since it was earned with a lot of sweat (and swearing?!). I was too busy spending time with family over the holidays to get to it earlier, but finally on the last day of 2014 I had a few hours to spend alone in the mountains again.

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Joffre Group / Snowshoe / Trip Report 0

The Turret

I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to go out on Sunday, October 19th. I had a pretty bad head cold and some motivational issues on Saturday evening. I slept in ’til around 08:00 on Sunday and awoke feeling pretty good – and the weather was pretty sweet too. I dashed around the house like a mad man and managed to get out the door by 08:25, heading down to the Kananaskis Lakes area hoping to either scramble Rawson Lake Ridge or The Turret, depending how I was feeling and how much snow there was.

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Joffre Group / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Marlborough, Mount

After a perfect day on Mount Joffre I woke up the team at 03:30 on Sunday morning for an attempt at my 400th peak – Mount Marlborough. We packed up camp under a clear, cool sky and soon found ourselves under the approach gully up the north west side of the mountain. The snow was fairly hard, but there was a punchy crust if you went looking for it. We knew that we had to get up and down the steep south face to the upper ridge before the morning sun started to hit it. There was recent avy debris in the upper bowl so we knew that parts of the slope wanted to slide.

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Alpine Climb / Joffre Group / Scramble / Snowshoe / Trip Report 0

Joffre, Mount

On the longest day of 2014 Ben, Steven and I hiked into the Aster Lake region to attempt the 11,000er in the region, Mount Joffre. We’ve been planning this one since May, so it started out as a ski trip and ended up as a snowshoe trip due to the lateness of the attempt. Snowshoes just might be the way to go for this one as it couldn’t have gone any better than what we experienced.

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Alpine Climb / Camp / Joffre Group / Snowshoe / Trip Report 0

Gypsum Ridge

After skiing up Healy Pass Peak the day before, I decided to take the family on a snowshoeing trip on Sunday, December 15 in preparation for our trek to the Elk Lakes ACC hut in one week. Bob Spirko indicates that the elevation gain is only around 300 meters on Gypsum Ridge so I figured this was a good candidate to bag a peak and get the family out. I also liked the fact that we’d be in the trees because the day was shaping up to be fairly cloudy and windy – but warm.

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Hike / Snowshoe / Spray Mountains / Trip Report 0

King Creek Ridge (Kiska tha Iyarhe)

On Saturday, June 15, 2013 I took my family up King Creek Ridge for a pleasant hike in beautiful spring weather. We followed a good trail right from the parking lot and had no issues other than the tiny moderate scrambling step just before the true summit of the ridge which Hanneke didn’t bother with and Niko didn’t really appreciate (but he did it!!).

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Hike / Opal Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Lawson, Little (South End of Lawson)

In my rant on the Mount Fortune trip I made it pretty clear what I think of invented peak names. So why did I climb one and put it on my summit list the very next day?! Because if other’s list and count it as a separate peak I guess I have to too. And because “Little Lawson”, just like “Red Ridge” and other less prominent peaks are actually listed in published guidebooks and have hiking trails to the summits above – basically they’re “official”, “unofficial” summits.

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Kananaskis Range / Snowshoe / Trip Report 0

Putnik, Mount

Jon and I woke up around 06:00 on Friday morning and set off for Mount Putnik to the northeast of our camp. I had done a lot of thinking on the route and had come to the conclusion that if we got lucky we should be able to bag the summit from the Three Isle Lake campground.

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Trip Report 0

Sarrail, Mount

If you’re doing Sarrail as a day trip from the Upper Kananaskis Parking lot, you are in for a fairly long day. The hiking and scrambling are fairly easy though, so it’s doable for fit and fast parties.

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Joffre Group / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Indefatigable, Mount

Indefatigable is the first mountain that I scrambled as a lead. Steve and I summitted on our first try in the fall of 1999.

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Scramble / Spray Mountains / Trip Report 0