“Dundy Junior II”
May 23, 2022
Mountain height: 2140 m
Elevation gain: 650
m
Round-trip
time: 3:45
Solo scramble.
After an amazing
but exhausting day on Mount Carthew
I found myself in bed at the ridiculously
early hour of 9 pm on May 22 (unfortunately, after watching the Flames
lose to
the Oilers in game 3 of their playoff series). As such, I was wide
awake at 4
am and although I had fully intended to stay home to recover, the
weather looked to be perfect for the morning. I would, for sure, regret
not taking
advantage of that fact and so I drove into Waterton hoping something
quick and
easy would grab my attention.
Recalling an
enjoyable reconnaissance trip up an outlier of what I now unofficially call
“Dundy Peak”, eleven years earlier, I decided a repeat ascent fit the bill for
the day’s requirements. The minor outlier is a good but not too strenuous workout,
with fantastic views at the top.
While the 2011
ascent started with a healthy dose of bushwhacking, 2017’s Kenow fire did a
thorough job of eliminating that aspect of the trip (for now). The ascent went
without a hitch, taking about 1.75 hours. Although, the route was in shade
throughout, views across the valley to Mount Blakiston and Anderson Peak were
expectedly excellent on this crisp, clear May morning. The snowy summit
panorama did not disappoint, contrasting significantly with its snow-less summer
counterpart.
Retracing my
steps back to the parking lot may have taken an hour (max) and although I
needed the trip to be short, that would have been a little too short. Instead,
I decided to follow the southeast ridge down towards Lost Horse Creek. From the
end of the ridge, it appeared I could descend to the Lost Horse Creek parking
lot or work my way down the southwest face back to Red Rock.
This alternate
descent route was definitely the highlight of the trip, characterized by amazing
snow scenery and ever-changing views of Dundy Peak and company. Once at the end
of the ridge I opted for a descending, diagonal line back towards Red Rock Canyon, as
opposed to going straight down to the road. The reward of this section of the
trip was crossing several small but scenic drainages and the pleasant contrast
of green slopes lower down with the still snow-covered upper slopes.
Yet again,
Waterton delivers outstanding scenery and views in spades, even on one of its innumerable
minor outliers. You would literally have to go out of your way to find a lackluster
trip in this park!
Looking up at the objective from the lower slopes
Mount Blakiston gets the first rays of Sun
The fierce east side of Anderson Peak also gets some Sun
The northeast side of Blakiston. I did a wonderful reconnaissance trip up to treeline on the right side a few days earlier.
The Blakiston Creek valley between the mountains is one of the longer hikes in the park.
"Sage Senior" - one of my favourite trips in Waterton
Ascent route to the right, good views to the left
Can't move in Waterton after the Kenow fire without bumping into a cool, burned-out tree
Open snowy slopes leads to the summit and the Sun is about to come up
Summit cairn
View to the southeast
The view to the northwest, north, and northeast includes Anderson, Sage
Senior, Avion Ridge, Newman Peak, Glendowan, Cloudowan, Cloudy Ridge, and
Dundy
Closer look at Newman Senior and Glendowan
Sage Senior and Avion Ridge
The traverse from Galwey (right), to Galwey North, to Rogan Peak (left) is super fun and very rewarding. Continuing to Dungarvan makes for a long but unbeatable day out.
Dundy (left) and Dungarvan (still one of my favourite scrambles in the Rockies)
Last look at the grand view to the north
The connecting ridge to Dundy provides a good extension, but
getting to the summit of Dundy from this direction is very challenging
and probably a technical climb on questionable rock
Heading down the southeast ridge, looking back at the summit
Same as above. The ridge and Dundy are going to be the centres of attention for some time
The easy southeast ridge
Easy, but super scenic
Here come the barrage of Dundy and snow scenery photos!
Always interesting to take pano photos that make a straight line look curved, as is the case here
Dungarvan again
The ascent route up Dundy (right to left) looks fierce from this angle, but in fact is only a moderate scramble with one difficult step
Starting the diagonal descent route. Yes, there is tons of red argillite on this peak.
Unfortunately, because I left so early in the morning, the Sun would not be hitting the argillite for some time
Nice contrast of mossy slopes and the snowy ones above
Same as above
One of numerous drainages coming down from Dundy Junior
Anderson, through the burned forest
Another drainage
And another!
The glacier lilies are out
And a big chunk of red argillite is also out
Classic smörgåsbord of Waterton colours
The best drainage was lined with vibrantly-coloured moss
One more shot of Anderson
A rare (almost) people-free view of Red Rock Canyon
Mount Galwey is still holding far more snow than normal for this time of the year
The End
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