Goat Mountain attempt II
October 6, 2019
Roundtrip time: 7:20
Scrambling and suffering with Mark.
We can safely throw this trip onto the list of “Best failures” (Crypt, Logan, Smutwood, Loomis, and Darrah S2). However,
this is only the case because of the first 40 minutes and last hour of the trip
and certainly not the 6+ hour suffer-fest in between!
In retrospect, there may have been some “willful blindness” on my part
in picking this objective - our second attempt on this particular mountain. A near record snowfall a week earlier in the area
and winds forecast up to 70 km/h were simply not a good recipe for success,
even though clear skies were forecast for the day. We “reasoned” that the
ascending a west facing route might be relatively snow-free, but of course that
came back to bite us, in that west facing slopes are usually the most prone to
high winds. In truth, give me any excuse to hop down in Glacier National Park and I'll take it!
All seemed to be going as planned when we arrived at the parking lot to
find everything around us completely devoid of snow. As such our snowshoes
stayed in the car. Heavy cloud cover over Going-to-the-Sun Mountain was a
minor source of frustration, but the wonderful hike up Baring Creek more than made
up for it. Fall colours are typically awesome everywhere you go, but when
combined with the already fantastically colourful rock of Glacier National Park
– well, that’s a whole new level of visual splendor! Much to our surprise, Baring
Creek provided stunning and colourful scenery in spades, especially when the trail nears the red argillite-lined creek.
Reluctantly dragging ourselves away from the treasures of the
creek, we resumed travel up the trail – a trail that was suddenly very snowy
and increasingly difficult to follow. Nevertheless, we were able to make decent,
but far from effortless, progress up the mountain. Snowshoes would have helped
in certain sections, others being too rocky and steep to make use of them.
Unfortunately, the severely cloudy conditions to the west continued to elicit
groans and scowls from both of us, draining my motivation much faster than
physical challenges of the ascent. In addition to sections of deep,
unconsolidated snow the high winds and blowing snow were now becoming a factor. We
continued to one highpoint after another, always vowing to turn around
when the next was reached. However, the scenery on the mountain itself was full
of surprises, making retreat difficult.
About 100 vertical metres from the summit we finally decided to bail.
The summit was now clouding over and to be denied a summit view was simply
unacceptable. We were also a little concerned about the descent, given we would
now be going directly into the wind. As eluded to earlier the blowing snow felt
like little daggers on any exposed skin. Fortunately, this turned out to be a
non-issue and going down was quite easy (and painless!).
More importantly, we now had time to check out Baring Creek again. It
did not disappoint in the least. One particular section of the creek was absolutely
mind-boggling, warranting a solid 10-minute stay to take it all in. In total, it took us a full hour
to cover the last 1.6 km of the trip, simply because the scenery was too beautiful
to just walk it with only a cursory glance.
No summit, but a thoroughly memorable day of outstanding scenery – my
kinda’ failure!
Great way to start the trip: Fall colours and the south side of Going-to-the-Sun Mountain (GTTS).
The Sun hits the top of GTTS. We were still optimistic at this point about having a great weather day.
Pleasant sunrise
The cloudy conditions to the west did make for some atmospheric lighting
... especially on GTTS
Nothing better than a creek that has cut through red argillite!
....except a waterfall as part of a creek that has cut through red argillite!
And then the argillite gets replaced with snow - lots of it for early October
Mark slogs up west face
The theme of the ascent was trying to avoid sections where the snow had accumulated because of the wind
GTTS remains shrouded in thick cloud
Great terrain to ascend, but the wind made it quite trying
Snowshoes would have been nice for this section. It was long and much steeper than it appears.
A section where our "wind blasted, snow-free, west-facing route" theory panned out!
There are many unseen, but super interesting cliffs that suddenly appear ahead if you stay left
Skirting alongside one of them
Without the snow, exploring this maze of rock would have been super cool
Mataphi Peak at the right makes a very brief appearance. We would not see the summit of GTTS at the left.
Some probing for holes was necessary, given the extreme amount of fresh snow
Looking back at some of the cliff scenery
Retreat. We made above the rock at the top, but the summit was in the clouds, with no break in sight.
More impressive cliff scenery on descent
That time of the year when the first taste of snow scenery makes me yearn for winter.
These days, however, I could do without the minus 30 wind chills!
Descending the awesome red argillite rock bands
Looking back up the route
Little Chief Mountain finally emerges from the clouds
Mark contemplates jumping the gap
Back down at stunning Baring Creek
We followed the creek down and encountered this little area of pure magic!
The Magical Area
More magic father downstream
Time to hike out
The southeast side of GTTS is fantastic
The Little Chief/Mahtotopa/Red Eagle traverse looks to be an awesome trip
No Glacier/Waterton/Castle trip is complete without a few twisted dead trees
And a few burned out trees
St. Marys Lake is a welcome sight near the end
The End
