Mount Bogart

Mount Bogart – July 7, 2006

Mountain height: 3144 m
Elevation gain:     1400 m
Ascent time:         4:15
Descent time:       3:40

Solo scramble.

I must have been orbiting Planet Delusion when I was thinking that I could leave Calgary at 6:30 am, summit Mount Bogart, and make it back to the city by 3 pm…..but that’s exactly what I tried to do!

This was a bit of unfinished business, started by Kevin, Linda, and I, in September of 2004. That winter-like trip ended at the col, when blustery weather closed in on us and forced a retreat. With far more favourable weather conditions, I set out to ascend Bogart’s west ridge, the shorter of the mountain’s two primary ascent routes. This route also entailed only 1400 m of elevation gain, as opposed to the 1650 m of the Ribbon Creek approach.

At a pretty decent pace, it still took me 2.5 hours to make it to the col. The scenery throughout was terrific, especially as I approached the col and turned around to see the colourful upper Sparrowhawk Tarns - I don’t even remember seeing them on our first trip. From the col, I simply followed the ridge, up and over a small bump and then onto the main west ridge of the mountain. The coral-like terrain on the edge of the ridge was very interesting. Upon reaching the prominent rockband that straddles the lower ridge, I searched for a way up, instead of following a faint trail along side it. This certainly didn’t help me time-wise, as it took several attempts up steep and loose terrain to finally regain the ridge.

Once back on the ridge, it was only a tedious plod to the summit. The panorama from the top was fantastic and well worth some of the most annoying rubble I’d ever been on (although nothing compared to an attempt of Association Peak by Kevin and me, earlier this year!). Eon, Aye, and Assiniboine were very prominent, as well as shapely Ribbon Peak to the east and the beautiful Memorial Lakes far below. By this time (12:30 pm), is was apparent that, unless I stumbled upon a conveniently placed zipline going all the way from the summit to the parking lot, I was not going to make my 3 pm deadline. That being the case, I enjoyed an extended stay at the summit.

The descent back the col was long and painstaking. I wanted to avoid downclimbing the section I went up to regain the ridge and so I tried to circumvent the entire rockband. This route took me too far away from the ridge and I ended up side-sloping horrific rubble all the way to the col. The rest was easy and another extended visit, to check out the scenic Sparrowhawk Tarns, was definitely warranted. I arrived back in Calgary at 6:45 pm – a miscalculation of almost 4 hours – definitely delusional!