Drywood 1

West summit of Drywood Mountain, Drywood Mountain attempt – June 25, 2005

Mountain height:    2,514 m (8,246 ft) (we made it to 2,324 m, but reached a highpoint of 2, 506 at the west summit)
Elevation gain:       784 to west summit, approx. 340 m towards the true summit
Roundtrip time:      approx. 8:30

Scrambling with Linda.

Although we got our wires crossed regarding the purpose/goal of this trip, Linda and I nevertheless, had a great time on this very scenic mountain in the Castle Crown area. With an access road that supposedly goes all the way to Bovin Lake (at the base of the west ridge of Drywood Mountain) now open, we believed we could drive to the lake, gain the west end of Drywood’s ridge, and then hike the long ridge heading east to the summit. We were disillusioned to find, however, that the gravel access road eventually degraded to a boulder strewn, heavily rutted, and very narrow trail that was okay for 4 by 4’s, bikes, and horses, but absolutely awful for low clearance vehicles, such as my Civic. After dragging and scraping the bottom of my car over the rocky terrain for a short distance, we were forced to pull over to the side and proceed on foot. Since I needed to be back in Calgary by 6 pm, the extra distance now ahead of us, put a huge damper on our chances of making the summit of Drywood via the planned route. Nevertheless, I still had summit aspirations in my head, while Linda set the more realistic goals of achieving the summit at the west end of the ridge and perhaps a little reconnaissance towards the true summit.

After hiking the trail for a couple of kilometres, we decided that going all the way to the lake was going to be too much and picked an easy-looking ascent line to the ridge. This proved to be a great decision as we ascended a stunningly beautiful, rocky gully. The variety of colours of the rock were phenomenal, and yet again we had to wonder why this area is not as popular as Waterton and Crowsnest. The gully eventually ran out and we started a long and exhausting slog up a red argillite slope (beautiful to look at and scree-surf down, but not so good for ascent).

With some nasty weather coming in from the west, I decided to go ahead and gain the ridge to take a few photos before we were enveloped in clouds. I made the ridge only a few hundred metres east of the west summit and headed up for a better view. Though quite cloudy, the panorama from the top was terrific – colourful Loaf Mountain , Pincher Ridge, and Victoria Peak, striking Windsor Peak and Castle Peak, and tons of snow-covered peaks to the southwest. I then went back down and when Linda gained the ridge, we both went back up to the west summit, where the weather had actually improved a little, revealing more stunning mountains and more stunning colours.

The best course of action, at this point would have been to relax, take in the fantastic scenery, and then enjoy an unhurried descent. Of course, I still had summit fever and although the top of Drywood Mountain was a considerable distance away, I convinced myself we could make it. Neither of us realized that the west summit was only about 30 vertical metres lower than the true summit.

The first part of the traverse was dead easy – that’s because it was all downhill!...and of course, what goes down must come up (when traversing from one peak to another, anyway!). The process of losing and then regaining elevation, slowed us down considerably. It didn’t help matters that the scenery was so beautiful that neither one of us wanted to stop. Eventually, it became evident that, although we were getting close to the summit, our time deadline would prevent us from reaching that goal, and we regretfully had to turn around. Nevertheless, the scenic ascent gully, reaching the west summit, the outstanding variety of colours all around, and the beautiful views from the ridge, made for an incredibly satisfying and wonderful day out.