Bullhead Point






August 29, 2023
 
Mountain height: 2269 m
Elevation gain:    838 m
Round-trip time:  5:15
 
Solo scramble.
 
Bit of a bizarre day! I needed to be back in Canada around 2 pm in the day, but after a mind-blowing trip up Medicine Grizzly Peak 24 hours earlier and clear skies forecast for the day, simply heading back north was not an option. And so after spending the night at the St. Mary's KOA campground, I packed up around 5 am and was in the Grinnell Glacier parking lot by 6 am. The objective was Grinnell Point, advertised as a short but interesting ascent that would take 5-7 hours round-trip. Upon reaching the point where I would leave the Grinnell Glacier Trail to head upslope, I heard and then saw something in the bush. It was a black bear, hanging out pretty much exactly where I needed to go. Abort! I turned around immediately, warning a multitude of other hikers on return.
 
Plan B – Altyn Peak via the South America route. The summit of Altyn wouldn’t be new to me, but the short, direct route would be. I arrived at the parking area to see two gentlemen looking at the ascent slopes through binoculars. “Anything of interest up there?”, I queried. “Yep, there’s a black bear wandering around”, was the response. Abort!
 
Luckily, there was a Plan C. Bullhead Point is merely a highpoint on the east ridge of awesome Mount Wilbur, but Blake Passmore describes the south face route as, “an uncomplicated slog of Class II and III rock”, with a round-trip time of 3-5 hours. Game on!
 
After hiking about 3 km to Redrock Falls, I spotted a faint trail heading in the right direction and so that way I went. Unfortunately, I may have “jumped the gun” and ended up in some fairly dense bush. Not wanting to retreat to find a better route, I simply bashed through it to the rock bands above. At this point, completing the route within the 3–5-hour window was severely in question.
 
The next section of the ascent was the most interesting and engaging part of the day. It involved zigzagging up the mountain, looking for non-technical routes up or around steep rock bands. Easier terrain sat above, but it was steep, foreshortened and consequently grueling. I eventually reached the east ridge to enjoy a terrific view north. The summit was a short scramble and ridgewalk away.
 
Needless to say, the highlight of the view (in fact throughout the entire ascent and descent) was the stunning form of Mount Wilbur. Other notable sights included The Ptarmigan Wall below Iceberg Peak, Mount Grinnell, Swiftcurrent Mountain, and an unnamed lake directly below Bullhead.
 
As Passmore suggests, returning the way you came could be quite the route-finding challenge and so I took his recommended descent route via the obvious drainage between Bullhead and Wilbur; but not before traversing the ridge towards Wilbur for a while. With more time, exploring the area would have been very cool.
 
The alternate descent went with ease. It was also a touch nostalgic, eventually intercepting part of the route we took up Wilbur, 14 years earlier. Round-trip I ended up taking 5.25 hours. Without the extended ridgewalk near the summit, I may have been able to do the trip in 5 hours, but I would need my 35-year-old body back to do it in 3!  
 
Great little trip and I made it back into Canada by 1 pm!

An early morning look at Swiftcurrent Lake



Same as above, with lights from the Many Glaciers Hotel



The southeast side of Grinnell Point



Mount Gould in the distance. Shortly after this was taken, I was heading back at a brisk pace!



The northeast side of Grinnell Point from the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail



Mount Wilbur, with Bullhead Point in front



Mount Grinnell



Grinnell and Swiftcurrent Mountain from the shores of Redrock Lake



Into the dense bush, but at least there's some red argillite and a good view of Wilbur to distract me



Wilbur and Bullhead Point. The bushwhacking from here to the ascent slopes was much worse than it looks.



Distracted again



The route up Bullhead goes up near the left side



Distracted by Grinnell this time



Traversing below the steep rocks bands, looking for a way up



There's an unseen route up ahead



Swiftcurrent Mountain



Typical terrain through the rock bands



Views of the Swiftcurrent valley are pretty sweet throughout



Of course I can't take my eyes off Wilbur!



A zoomed-in shot of the summit block of Bullhead from above the rock bands. It's a steep and foreshortened slog to the base.



Finally on the ridge and checking out the view into the next valley. Crowfeet and Henkel are featured.



The east end of the summit block. The true summit is not visible yet.



The infamous B-7 Pillar, northeast of Wilbur. No easy routes up that one.



It was tempting to try to scramble up this, but the summit was still a distance away and I was already behind schedule
 


Traversed around it instead



Good thing as there's another steep buttress blocking the way



Traversed below this one too



Still traversing



Taking a breather to admire the view



The summit is actually past all the pinnacles and rock bands - good thing I traversed below them



Summit pano



Same as above



Spectacular Mount Merritt



Beautiful unnamed lake below



Close-up



Traversing further along the ridge before descending



B-7 Pillar through the gap



Had I more time I would have went all the way to the base of Wilbur's daunting northeast ridge



Different view of the lake



The best views of Wilbur were on descent



The descent route was straightforward and interesting



More Wilbur


    
Nice waterfall down red argillite



Same as above



And again



Redrock Lake again



Different perspective of Wilbur and Bullhead



Berries and blurry Wilbur



Too bad I didn't get a commission for every time I wrote "Wilbur" in this report!



Won't even write it!



Back near the main trail



A very small waterfall



A slightly bigger one



Saying goodbye to you know who and you know you!



Pleasant scenery on the easy hike out

The End

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