Carthew Minor-Minor
June 4, 2022
Mountain height: 2230 m
Elevation gain: 580
m
Round-trip
time: 3:45
Solo scramble.
Silly unofficial
name (and not a stutter), but creativity is in short supply these days!
Two weeks after
spending several hours looking longingly at this minor outlier of Mount
Carthew and Carthew Minor, I decided to give it a go. The forecasted weather was miserable, so a
bigger objective was pointless.
I started at the
Akamina Pass trailhead and hiked easily down to Cameron Creek in hip-waders –
“easily” will be a long, lost memory in much of Waterton once all the blackened
trees from the 2017 Kenow fire start to fall.
Following the
major drainage up into the small valley west of the outlier seemed like a good route
and it was. Not more than twenty minutes into the trip and I had already vowed
to return with clear skies. The rock and scenery were classic Waterton,
demanding a good dose of Sun to best appreciate them.
The drainage
petered out in a small hanging valley, with Carthew Minor on the south side and
the objective to the north. Gaining the ridge between the two required a steep
and somewhat foreshortened scree slog, but nothing too difficult. Had the
weather been better I would have been very attempted to head over to either
Carthew Minor or Carthew itself. However, the skies were completely overcast,
and the threat of a rain/snow storm prompted more conservative
decision-making.
Instead, after
taking in the “as good as it’s gonna’ get on a cloudy day” view, I set out to
check out the snow and cornice scenery along the summit ridge. Naturally, most
of this was an exercise in futility – hard to check out cornice scenery when
you cannot go on the cornice. And there was no way in heck I was going to step
onto this cornice! I did, however, manage to circumvent the entire thing and get
some decent views from the side. Also of interest was the small lake we had
snowshoed on two weeks earlier, now in the thawing process.
From a point
north of the summit, taking a more direct route down to the valley appeared to
present few obstacles. In fact, there were no obstacles, only fantastic rock scenery
that had me going in in every direction but down for some time – definitely a
place to be on a clear day, with the Sun in the northwestern skies. The Cameron
Creek crossing went again without a hitch, though the water level was noticeably
higher.
Gloomy weather
but, still a fantastic day of exploration. A return trip with further
exploration of the colourful rock lining the descent route is already on the to-do list.
A small but beautiful stream to follow into the valley below the outlier
Typical travel before the snowy terrain
Looking back to Mount Rowe and its direct ascent route
The snow made travel easier in some parts
And more challenging in others
Getting past this snowbank required a little step-kicking
That's a huge amount of for early June, at the relativity low elevation in Waterton
Easy travel again
Not surprisingly, there's a ton of red argillite in the upper valley
Carthew Minor looks to be accessible from this valley
The summit of Minor through a tree
Without the tree
Approaching the ridge, after a steep scree slog
A small section of Cameron Lake makes an appearance
The low cloud would cover Mount Carthew's summit throughout the trip
On the ridge and heading to the summit
The impressive cornice scenery begins
Igneous Peak in the centre. Just a little bump between Ruby Ridge and Mount Blakiston, but so worth the effort.
The ridge over to the Carthew/Carthew Minor col looks like a walk
All of Cameron Lake is now visible. Too bad the weather kinda' sucks!
Approaching the summit. It's treed - actually burnt treed!
Massive snow formation at the top
Zoomed in shot of part of the cornice
Zoomed out
As good as the summit view was going to get
At least there's some red argillite to appease me
Heading down the other side of the ridge
Massive hole and fracture in the massive cornice. Good reason to stay off it!
Looking back up the ridge
Circled around the outlier to check out the cornice from below
The small tarn that Mark stood on several weeks earlier is thawing
Ruby Ridge is cloud-covered too
The distinctive pyramidal cornice we saw while ascending Carthew
Same as above, but with way more of the cornice
The alternate descent route starts off well and gets better and better
Super cool rock from here to the bottom
I see an ewok
Distracted for a second....
....then back to the ewok
Back down in the burned-out forest
Cameron Creek. Slow moving at this point, but almost waist deep
All done. Looking back at Carthew Minor-Minor (left), the false summit
of Mount Carthew (just right of centre), and Carthew Minor (right).
The End
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