The Croissant III and Bakery Peak II



May 11, 2019
 
Mountain heights:  2037 m, 2410 m
Elevation gain:       1165 m
Round-trip time:     9:25
 
Scrambling with Dave.
 
After taking yet another bite out of The Croissant (my third visit in less than 5 months and Dave’s second), the two of us may need to go on strict diets!
 
The goal of the day was to attempt to finish what we started on Bakery Peak (ie the summit) and although we didn’t reach the highest point of the northeast end of Loaf Mountain, I’d have to call this trip one of the most enjoyable scrambles I’ve ever done. Dave was likewise thrilled with the day and what we saw and experienced.
 
Initially, an ascent of The Croissant was not on the agenda. However, upon reaching the drainage between The Muffin and The Croissant, the temptation to check out the nearby waterfall was far too great. We ascended the right side of the drainage to reach the super awesome rock I had visited on Trip 1, then descended to the waterfall and crossed to the other side, where it appeared that even more super awesome rock awaited!
 
The waterfall was expectedly magnificent and the super awesome rock on its west side was exactly that. At this point, Dave and I split up, each taking a different line above the waterfall. We intended to reunite a short ways up, however, my line took me into the aforementioned drainage and once in it, it was hard to leave – not because of any technical difficulty – the drainage was simply very scenic and interesting.  We did eventually meet up, a short distance from the summit of The Croissant. Of course, a summit visit was obligatory.
 
From The Croissant, the upper ridge of Bakery Peak appeared to be very snowy – more so than what we had encountered on attempt #1 – but that wasn’t about to stop us, on this beautifully sunny and almost windless day. Once above the first highpoint of the ridge, the scrambling took on a wonderful life of its own.  There were a couple of steps that we circumvented, but the majority of the ascent was spent directly on the ridge, scrambling up short but steep rock bands that were never overly exposed or overly committing and just plain fun to ascend.
 
The snow of the upper ridge was very supportive and allowed easy and safe travel. Just before the final push, I stopped to put my crampons on while Dave continued up the increasingly steep ridge, the final few metres looking like a big question mark from down below. To my surprise, by the time I was ready to continue Dave had not only ascended the snowy ridge, but also the steep rock band near the top that appeared to barre progress. I followed.     
 
From above the step, the summit block looked fierce. And it was! Dave led the first section, whose bark was thankfully far worse than its bite. This was now familiar terrain for me, having completed some of this ridge back in 2006. I mistakenly thought the summit of Bakery Peak may sit before this section, but such was not the case. Atop the first highpoint, the ridge narrowed to an alarming degree and ceased to be a scramble.  I went to a lower point a little farther on, but beyond that was some tricky and very exposed scrambling and of course the dead end I had reached before. Returning to the scrambling summit of Bakery, we enjoyed a splendid view and Dave built a cairn that he named “Sven”! 
 
However, we weren’t done with Bakery yet. With time in abundance, we had nothing to lose by searching for another route up, along the south side of the mountain. Dave went up several promising avenues, but all routes became increasingly more serious higher up and he wisely backed back. Eventually we ended up at the gap I had reached 2 weeks earlier. That would be the end of our Bakery Peak summit attempt. We’ll chalk it up as a valiant effort!
 
For descent, we picked the drainage right down the centre. And initially we did start going down the mountain. However, for some strange and unknown reason my feet kept going sideways as opposed to down and before long we found ourselves at the bottom of a relatively easy looking gully that appeared to take us to the ridge, west of the pinnacles and Bakery Peak. Having explored so much of this mountain over multiple trips already, we simply couldn’t resist this gully and so up we went.
 
20 or so minutes later we topped out on the ridge between Bakery Peak and the middle summit of Loaf that Dave affectionately dubbed “Pastry Peak”. The bad news was that the ridge in both directions didn’t go as a scramble – ie. narrow, exposed, steep, and requiring climbing gear.  This definitely was the end of the day for us and after a wonderfully satisfying break at our highpoint we started the descent – for real this time!
 
Fun scree surfing, numerous beautiful waterfalls, generally firm snow, and awesome scenery characterized this terrific descent route. We were back on the gas in no time and then hiked easily back to the start.
 
Couldn’t have asked for a more amazing day or a better partner to experience it with. Awesome and awesome!!!   

Click HERE is check out Dave's wicked report.
Warning: excess number of photos; precede at your own risk

An easy hike, featuring the length of Spionkop Ridge,  precedes the scenic ascent (photo by Dave)



Dave's brand new "fig" coloured hat (light purple) was another of the many highlights of the trip. The hat matched, almost perfectly, the colour of the pipes inside the fenced enclosure!
 


The man in the fig hat approaches the ascent drainage



Nothing like a light fig coloured crocus to spice up the scenery (photo by Dave)



Excited to be back near this sweet rock! (photo by Dave)



Had to perform a Vulcan mind-meld on the rock (photo by Dave)



Terrific! (photo by Dave)




The waterfall



Same as above (photo by Dave)



Same as above

Steep terrain on the west side of the waterfall (photo by Dave)



Dave ascended the left side



I went right, towards these layers of rock



The weakness to get through the rock band is at the upper left (photo by Dave)



Colourful, folded rock



There's Dave, taking the left side scramble route
 


The snowy drainage I traversed into and then went up



Same as above



Meanwhile, Dave comes across a striking and classic example of Castle rock layers (photo by Dave)



Stunning! (photo by Dave)



Heading up the drainage



Same as above



Meanwhile, Dave takes in some super fun scrambling up this cool terrain (photo by Dave)



Back to me and the drainage



Dave spots me in the drainage



There I am, in the centre



More great scenery and terrain to ascend in the drainage



Same as above



I knew it was just a matter of time before I bumped into the magnificent red argillite band that stretches across The Muffin and The Croissant


So much red argillite, so little time!



Same as above



Back on track



Got a quick glimpse of one of my Waterton favourites, Mount Dungarvan
 

So much terrain to explore and so little time!



Same as above



The gully I ascended to reach the ridge of The Croissant



Dave spots me from above (photo by Dave)




And I spot Dave from below



On the ridge and happily heading to the summit of The Croissant (photo by Dave)



Dave is happy too



Dave and the awesome form of Bakery Peak



Weird photo ALERT!!
Dave very generously gave me a tube of Nuun electrolyte tablets. I decided to toss one into a green apple Gatorade to see what happens
Heading down to the col (photo by Dave)



Hard to see, but the yellow and purple of this crocus almost perfectly matched the colours of Dave's ice axe and hat, respectively.



Onto the firm snow (photo by Dave)



Drywood Mountain and its outliers (Stumpy, Woody and Barky) fill the view to the north


The great scrambling is preceded by easy hiking (photo by Dave)



The left side of the ridge is quite precipitous in places (photo by Dave)



We found the "A"  again! (photo by Dave)



At the highpoint that marks the beginning of the scramble section (photo by Dave)



Here it comes!



We did have to find an indirect route up the first rock band (photo by Dave)



But it still involved some scrambling (photo by Dave)



Approaching the second band (photo by Dave)



Okay....we didn't get directly up this one either! (photo by Dave)



But we did for this one!



Lichen and Drywood Mountain - two of my favourite things in the Castle!



Mount Glendowan - another Waterton favourite



Dave scrambles up one of the many remaining rock bands on the ridge

And there's another (photo by Dave)



At the top of it (photo by Dave)



Taste-test time for the Nuun/Green Apple Gatorade combo. The verdict: delicious! (photo by Dave)



Dave and the more serious looking upper ridge



  Approaching the highpoint we reached in January (photo by Dave)



Close-up of the cornice guarding the ridge. Dave's route goes up the rock on the right side.



The scrambling never ends on this ridge



...neither does the colourful lichen



What a sweet place to be (photo by Dave)



Dave leads the way up the snowy upper ridge



Easy scrambling up this rock band



...and then another section of beautiful snowy ridge



Before I could even get my crampons on, Dave has ascended the last rock band of the ridge



Success!



My turn (photo by Dave)



And up the last rock band (photo by Dave)



The cornice that I thought was massive from afar turned out to be relatively small



Great view from the top of the ridge of the entire length of Loaf Mountain



The remaining cornice adds to the scenery



Dave heads towards the intimidating summit block of Bakery Peak



Dave atop the butt cheeks of the ridge! (see Dave's report if confused)


I'm still stuck at the top of the northeast ridge admiring the views and colours (photo by Dave)



Dave's perspective of the upcoming difficulties (photo by Dave)



There he is at the base



Yet again, I turn around for 5 seconds and Dave has magically ascended the entire thing!



From the scrambling summit of Bakery I went over to the next highpoint. The highest point I reached in 2006 is the small "v" left of centre. I had zero intention of repeating that part! (photo by Dave)



Moderate, but very exposed scrambling over to the highpoint. It gets much worse on the other side (photo by Dave)



At the highpoint (photo by Dave)



Impossible not to be awed by the always stunning forms of Castle Peak (right) and Windsor Mountain (photo by Dave)



Dave and Sven the cairn



Dave, at what we call the scrambling summit of Bakery Peak



Sven deserves a photo of his own (photo by Dave)



Descending (photo by Dave)



The south side of the mountain is replete with lichen covered red argillite - resistance is futile!



Ouch!



Dave is likewise mesmerized by the amazing combination of colours (photo by Dave)

The first gully Dave tried, in an attempt to access the summit from the opposite side



Up he goes



End of the line. We both agreed that this was up-climbable, but not down-climbable. It also wasn't clear if it would go to the summit.



Looking down (photo by Dave)



Dave carefully descends the gully



The second route Dave tried. I was happy to just hang out at the bottom and watch.



Back on familiar terrain. The gully with the icicles (photo by Dave)



Attempt #3. This line initially had some promise, but quickly became exposed and very steep



Back at The Gap (photo by Dave)



View to the north from through The Gap



Dave shows off his Gap!



The Gap in The Gap



The Gap has some pretty sweet rock of its own



Three golden eagles (two seen here) gave us quite the show as they rode the thermals



Another promising route, but it too was a no-go (photo by Dave)



Dave DID give it a go however



Retreat and time to go home (photo by Dave)






Descending terrain beneath the awesome igneous pinnacles and red argillite band



Oops! we are going the wrong way!



Up we go again (photo by Dave)



The summit of Spionkop Ridge



On the ridge between Bakery and Pastry Peak - the middle summit of Loaf, near the highest point at the far left (photo by Dave)



Dave and the daunting west ridge of Bakery Peak. There are many up and downs to get there - not a scramble!



Another view of Bakery Peak (photo by Dave)



Victoria Peak at the right (photo by Dave)



The ups and downs of Bakery's west ridge are more visible here



View to the south. Mount Roche (Spread Eagle Mountain) at the far left (photo by Dave)



Descended the ridge a little to see if continuing west along it was possible



That's a big NO, without climbing gear and a decent set of kahunas! (photo by Dave)



Yes, we are actually going home now



A good section of excellent scree surfing starts the descent (photo by Dave)



And then come the waterfalls



Same as above (photo by Dave)






Mount Roche provides a great backdrop for the entire descent
 


One cool waterfall after another



Yep! (photo by Dave)



Onto the snow (photo by Dave)



The ridge above is the one I used for descent on April 22. Thankfully I traversed into the drainage before encountering the steep rock band



Dying to reascend this beauty someday (Roche)



The three guys popped out onto the road behind us, followed us for a few metres, then bolted down into the drainage

The End
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