Mount Glendowan
 

October 23, 2005
 
Mountain height:     2,677 m (8,781 ft)
Elevation gain:        1,175 m
Ascent time:            5:05
Descent time:          4:50
 
Scrambling with Mark and Jodi.
 
We were hoping that the south ridge of Mount Glendowan would provide the same great hands-on scrambling and outstanding scenery its neighbour, Dungarvan had done for us two weeks earlier…and it did. Not surprisingly, the ascents and geology of the two mountains (both via their south ridges) are remarkably similar – definitely brothers if not twins.
 
The good stuff was preceded by a 2 km hike along Snowshoe Trail and then an hour of sometimes tedious bushwhacking and climbing over deadfall. Once above the treeline, it was Déjà vu for the next three hours, as we scrambled up numerous pinnacles and rockbands lining the south ridge. Though not quite as stunning and demanding as Dungarvan, the ascent was, nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyable.
 
Higher up, we had to circumvent some of the rockbands, on the left side, as time was becoming a concern. Mark and I were also quite tired (the residual effects of the previous evening’s Judas Priest concert) and opted for the quickest route towards the summit block.  The upper section of the mountain was characterized by the same band of black, lichen-covered rock, atop a band of burgundy argillite, as was Dungarvan – the only differences being that on Glendowan the black band was more broken and less steep and atop that, was an additional band of light brown shale (accounting for the slightly higher elevation of Glendowan than his little brother).
 
Where the black band of Dungarvan was a significant challenge that required a rappel to get down, Glendowan involved only moderate scrambling. Regaining the ridge above revealed not only the stunning and imposing-looking, shale summit block, but a fantastic view of the long ridge towards Dungarvan and other shapely Waterton peaks. Although the east wall of the summit block would have required a significant compliment of climbing gear to ascend, the south side granted easy access to the summit via a weakness in the band. A scree slope followed and then a short and pleasant traverse led us easily to the summit. The summit panorama was outstanding in every direction, but I found the view towards the Castle Crown area especially breath-taking – the distinctively coloured layers of rock and beautiful contours of the mountains were absolutely unique – there is nowhere else on the Canadian Rockies where such a variety of amazing colours of rock exist.
 
Although it was extremely tempting to investigate an alternate descent route by heading west along the undulating ridge towards Newman Peak, we opted to play it safe and return the same way – more or less. Unfortunately, we should have picked “more” than “less”. Again, comparing the trip to Dungarvan, it appeared that an easier descent route existed right down the center of the south side gully. At first, this theory held true and at the bottom of the gully we came across some outstanding waterfall and rock scenery. Everything after that was sheer hell, as we were forced to side slope steep terrain covered in horrendous deadfall. Of course, it was dark by then and so the miserable 2 hour stint was done by headlamp. Add to that the fact that I somehow lost Mark’s camera (with all the good ascent photos) somewhere along the way, and I, for one, was a little cranky by the time we returned to the car.
 
Except for the miserable final couple of hours and the lost camera, a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying ascent – definitely worth a repeat visit.

Epilogue: We stayed at Pincher Creek overnight, and returned to see if by some miracle we could find the camera. Six hours the searching turned up nothing, however, we were able to see the fantastic waterfall and creek scenery in much better light.