Bridle Peak III and Cinch Hill III

Bridle Peak III

Cinch Hill III

November 27, 2021

Mountain heights: 2180 m and 2079 m
Elevation gain: 350 m
Round-trip time: 5 hours

Solo scramble.

Experiencing a typical bout of indecisiveness, I decided to start hiking the Drywood Falls trail without an objective in mind.

Hopefully an appealing and also feasible route would reveal itself along the trail. Within 30 minutes, several had: a couple of new routes up the north side of Drywood Mountain and three routes up gullies on the south side of Pincher Ridge. I chose Pincher because at least I would eventually ascend into the Sun-soaked slopes. The Drywood routes would be in shade throughout. There was also the issue of the wind, which promised to be vicious all day.

Going up a south facing gully would probably be the best way to stay somewhat sheltered.

Of the three gullies, the middle one looked to be the most interesting (simply because there was some visible red argillite!) and the least likely to lead me onto precarious terrain. Disappointingly, I arrived at the argillite section long before the Sun would light up the colourful rock. However, the route up to that point had been excellent, courtesy of the frozen water in the drainage. With surprisingly clear skies ahead, it looked like things would get even better.

And they did.

The ascent gully provided tons of interesting scenery – rock and frozen water – enhanced dramatically by the blue sky above. Higher up, I was able to traverse over to the east ridge of Pincher, west of Bridle. Both Bridle and Cinch were easily reached from that point. The loop was completed via an easy route down the southeast side of Cinch.

A very rewarding half day out.

Early morning light on Mount Roche (Spread Eagle Mountain)

Interesting cloud

Pincher Ridge and two of potential ascent gullies. I took the one on the left.

Across the valley, the Drywood Falls ice climb is forming nicely

Entering the drainage

First red argillite encounter of the day

...but the Sun's rays are only hitting the mountain tops

...and the Moon

The start of a string of ice encounters

Pincher's fierce east ridge

Close-up

Light does cool things when it hits smooth ice

Same as above

Close-up

About to escape the shadow of the mountain

Out into the open, and greeted by a beautiful, red argillite-topped boulder

Close-up of the rock

The route ahead looks fairly uninspiring

So I went left into another drainage

Great rock and wickedly blue sky are going to be the highlights of this part of the ascent

Looking over to the northeast ridge of Drywood Mountain

Distracted by something different

Back in the shadows, but here comes Round 2 of "Cool, Ice Encounters"

Same as above

Back to the rock

Back to the ice

Approaching the scenic highlight of the day

The rock was amazing

...but the ice on the left side made it "next level"

Love it!

More ice above the ice

And again

The ice scenery is done, so now it's "Tree Time"

I was tempted to intercept the east ridge route up Pincher, but that one is a great summer route - not late November!

So back to the trees

Getting over to the ridge between Pincher and Bridle required a lengthy traverse

Another tempting route up

Still traversing and still enjoying the views and dead tree scenery

Same as above

Same as above

The ridge is at the left, but as usual I'm distracted by a rock in front

The rock folding on this side of Pincher is insane

View to the north from Pincher's east ridge

Prairie Fire, Sky, and Bluff

Sky

Heading down to Bridle Peak

A little lichen

A little more

Looking back up Pincher's east ridge

Same as above, but from farther down the ridge

Summit of Bridle

Descending to Cinch Hill and back to the start

The End

LOG