"The Muffin" II, "The Croissant", and the
Northeast End of Loaf Mountain ("Bakery Peak")
attempt
January 5,
2019
Mountain
heights: 2000 m, 2037 m, got to 2333 m on Bakery Peak
Elevation gain: 970 m
Roundtrip
time: approximately 7 hours
Scrambling
with Dave.
When Dave
put the suggestions of Prairie Bluff, Blue Mountain, or The Muffin in front of
me, my initial thought was, “All of them please!” Each of these diminutive peaks
offers scenic treasures that have “Wowed” me on several occasions. However, a
three peak day being unlikely I suggested we try The Muffin. With the ascent
from five days previous still fresh in my head and a windless weather
forecast, continuing past the Muffin towards the Northeast End of Loaf Mountain seemed to be a
strong possibility.
Although
I was excited to take Dave to see the colourful rock band and frozen waterfall
I had detoured to on my previous ascent, Dave spotted another frozen waterfall up high
on the south slopes that appeared to be amid even more spectacular rock. As
such, we took a direct line up some pretty steep terrain to check it out. Would
this little feature turn out to be another scenic treasure of The Castle? Yes,
yes, and heck yes!
The ice
and surrounding rock were absolutely magnificent. We spent an
inordinate amount of time exploring and photographing this fantastic area. Dave
then found a great route up through the rock and we continued towards the
summit. Our route became far more of a zig-zag than a direct route, as the
terrain above the falls was likewise amazingly colourful and interesting. The
circuitous nature of our ascent route probably added 45-60 minutes to our
ascent time for The Muffin, but that time was so worth it.
After a
short but enjoyable summit stay, marveling not only at the terrific summit
view, but also at the huge rocks the cairn was made up of, we turned southwest
towards “The Croissant” – yes, en route, Dave appropriately nicknamed the next
summit, in keeping with the baked goods theme!
The
summit of The Croissant was easily reached, now amazing rock scenery giving way
to amazing snow scenery. Hats off again to the individuals who constructed the
cairn there too – it must have taken two or three people to lift some of those rocks.
At this
point we had several options: a variety of alternate descent routes or continuing
the trip towards the Northeast End of Loaf Mountain (Dave needs to nickname this one too!)
Even though Dave was recovering from a serious cold and in less than peak
physical condition, he graciously agreed to indulge my desire to see if the
Northeast End of Loaf could be achieved from this ridge. We didn’t have any
delusions about making it all the way to the top in winter conditions, but at
least the first section looked interesting and doable.
And
interesting it was. Tons of hands-on scrambling opportunities,
route-finding
challenges and the typical glut of wonderfully colourful rock common to
the
area rendered this an almost perfect scramble route. Slowly and
carefully
making our way up, we far surpassed what we thought could be achieved
for the ridge in its present condition. Unfortunately, the winter
conditions did get the better of us eventually.
Rock hard snow on steep terrain, snow and ice on ledges, and
increasingly
exposed situations gave us enough pause to pull the plug, less than a
hundred vertical metres from the top. We were already dangerously close
to the
line
between scrambling and mountaineering and a summit bid would clearly
have been
mountaineering.
We now
needed an alternate descent route. Downclimbing what we had come up was
certainly possible, just not desirable! We chose the south facing slopes and
they worked magnificently. Scree surfing was decent and the one cliffband that
looked as though it would be problematic had a scree/rubble weakness through
it. We then followed a snow filled drainage back out to gas well and the approach
road.
A superb
day of awe-inspiring scenery and exhilarating adventure! Once again a huge
thank you to Dave for his terrific company, awesome scrambling abilities, and his
adventurous spirit.
Click here to see Dave's excellent report.
From the northeast side of the mountain Dave was able to capture this photo of the entire length of Loaf Mountain.
The Muffin is the small hill near the left, the Northeast summit is in the centre and the true summit of Loaf is at the right (photo by Dave)
Much easier approach without the snow (photo by Dave)
Heading towards the frozen waterfalls in the centre (photo by Dave)
Getting closer to the waterfall and the rock is getting colourful!
Dave leads the way up increasingly steep terrain
Yes...I'm licking the ice!! (photo by Dave)
And then photographing it
Dave at the base of the frozen waterfalls
How could you not smile amid these surroundings? (photo by Dave)
Easy does it! The terrain below the ice was steep and very slippery
Dave (little red dot) traverses to the right to find the way up the steep rock above
I (little yellow dot in lower left) went to the left. There was a route up but it looked fairly intense with all the snow.
Here comes the colourful rock
Three cheers for lichen on argillite!
Dave continues to traverse
Lots of brightly coloured lichen on much of the rock
And large pockets of snow to negotiate (photo by Dave)
Dave looks for a route up, where the rock is less steep
Good thing Dave is route-finding because I'm mesmerized by the rock (photo by Dave)
Up he goes
So many wonderful layers!
My turn. The trailhead and approach road are visible below (photo by Dave)
Big stretch for this move (photo by Dave)
The Northeast End of Loaf peaks above the ridge (photo by Dave)
Closer look at the objective
Summit of The Muffin (photo by Dave)
Dave at the summit with Drywood Mountain behind him
View to the southwest, west and northwest - Skionkop Ridge, Loaf Mountain, and Drywood Mountain (photo by Dave)
Heading down to the Muffin/Croissant col (photo by Dave)
Dave found this fascinating chunk of red argillite
The wind-sculpted, snowy ridge is about to become one of the features of The Croissant
One of my favourite shots of the day by Dave
Another awesome photo by Dave
And again! (photo by Dave)
Dave nears the summit of The Croissant
Some old friends - Centre Peak (centre) and Lightning Peak (right)
Dave and the Cairn of The Croissant
Summit view
It's getting cloudy, but some of the clouds look very cool
Now heading down to the Croissant/Loaf col (photo by Dave)
And up the other side (photo by Dave)
Terrific ridge to ascend, with precipitous drops on the left (photo by Dave)
Speaking of lichen
Dave spotted the "A" in this rock (photo by Dave)
And speaking of precipitous!!
Dave finds a way up a section we couldn't scramble directly up
The snow did help for other sections
Back on the ridge (photo by Dave)
Prairie Bluff is looking very snow-free compared to 5 days ago
Going around to the right to get around another difficult section (photo by Dave)
As usual, the horizontal and ledgey terrain of The Castle makes the
ascent easier, even when the quality of the rock is quite suspect
Dave scrambles up another steep step
Much of the length of Spionkop Ridge (summit at the right), with Mount Glendowan at the left
End of the line for us today. The summit ridge is not far away but too sketchy with all the snow (photo by Dave)
Looking down the south side of the mountain that we used for descent (photo by Dave)
Dave leads the way down a steep gully
Great terrain! (photo by Dave)
This gully leading to the summit of the Northeast End of Loaf looked to
be a great route up, but only in very favourable conditions
The decent scree slopes allowed us to lose elevation very quickly
Dave checks out some ice
Looking up the fascinating south side of Loaf (photo by Dave)
Scree fun
Almost at the drainage, we encountered an amazing "dead tree graveyard"
The drainage was also very colourful when the rock was exposed
And very white when snow filled
The frozen waterfall, I went to 5 days earlier, was a pleasant sight on the walk back to the vehicles (photo by Dave)
The End
