Heart
Mountain IV and extension –
April 24, 2005
Heart
Mountain:
Height:
2,135 m (7,003 ft)
Elevation gain: 824 m
Ascent time:
2:00
GR322538
Height:
2,320 m (7,610 ft)
Traverse time:
1:15
GR324539
Height:
2,320 m (7,610 ft)
Traverse time: 0:10
Descent time via Heart Creek:
2:50
Solo scramble.
I picked this trip for several reasons:
1. After summitting Heart
Mountain three times, for some unknown reason, I had not even made the attempt at the
extension to GR322538 and GR324539;
2. Linda Breton had completed the trip two weeks earlier and raved about it
3. I was fighting a nasty stomach virus and wasn’t up for anything too
strenuous
4. I didn’t have anything better to do - football season is still 4 months
away
I intentionally left the trip to later in the day, so that
the sun would be in a more favourable position for taking photos. The fairly
consistent cloud cover throughout the day negated that concern. Leaving the
parking lot at
12:15 pm, I hit the true summit of Heart Mountain 2 hours later – not the fastest
ascent, but since it was a little cloudy, I was in no rush. It was also quite
hot and I received a few bewildered glances, as I made the ascent wearing thick
fleece pants, gloves, and a fleece pullover (tick paranoia).
The mountain was expectedly busy and I was happy to leave the crowds behind upon
leaving the true summit. The traverse to GR322538 was separated into four sections: 1. a pleasant hike down
towards the lowpoint; 2. a nasty little downclimb right before that lowpoint; 3.
an enjoyable hike/scramble to the first summit; 4. a short and easy hike to the
second. Linda had given me some instructions to find the downclimb, however,
given my uneasiness and weakness at downclimbing in general, I had packed about
10 m of rope, just in case…. and I’m glad I did! I took one look at the
downclimb and went straight for the rope. A solitary tree stood several metres
away, providing a great anchor. I rappelled down, leaving the rope for the
return trip.
The remainder of the scramble was an enjoyable combination of scenic ridge
walking and a tiny bit of easy scrambling, with one steeper section right before
the summit. It remained fairly cloudy at the first summit and so I continued
over to the second, a mere 10 minutes away. Although it would have been tempting
to do Eric Magno’s alternate descent and re-ascent right down the north slope
of GR324539, I had to return
the same way in order to retrieve the rope. I returned to the first summit,
where weather conditions had improved a little, revealing some pretty fantastic
scenery. The connecting ridge towards Mary
Barclay
Mountain
looked very interesting and worth a try and it was nice to get a good view of
the west ridge of the West Peak of Mount Baldy that Mark and I had completed the
previous day.
Descending the ridge was easy, but I’ll have to admit that when I returned to
upclimb the downclimb, I still found the first move to be quite difficult and I
reluctantly (but perhaps thankfully) reached for the dangling rope to assist me.
Having completed the Heart Mountain Circuit route twice, I chose to use Kane’s
other alternate descent route, which descends easy, west slopes to Heart Creek
and then along a trail right back to the parking lot (the added bonus being that
I wouldn’t have to go back up to Heart’s true summit). From the ridge, this
route looked to be fairly pedestrian and boring, but there were a few nice
surprises along the way. At one point you arrive at a steep rockband with
beautiful vertical walls of rock to the right. Here, the trail goes to right and
magically winds its way through the rockband, right underneath the towering
walls. The scenery here was quite stunning and I did finally get some beautiful
blue sky in the background. An excellent trail led to Heart Creek, from there,
and then out to the highway. The Heart Creek Trail also had a couple of points
of interest in the form of scenic waterfalls. An enjoyable day out and
definitely a worthwhile extension of Heart Mountain.
The extension, as seen from
just below the true summit of Heart Mountain; GR322538 and
GR324539 are the highpoint at the left
Same as above from just
above the downclimb
Looking back at the
downclimb; the route suggested by flagging descends where the band is at it's
lowest, just left of centre
A
closer look at GR322538; this section can be
ascended on scree up the middle or on the ridge to the left
A potential further
extension of the trip; we reached the summit to the right last year when doing
an extension of Mary Barclay Mountain
The scree ascent slope
(left), Mary Barclay Mountain (middle), an unnamed
highpoint on the way to Mary Barclay (right)
A better look to the south;
if you really squint, you can see Mount McDougall, The
Wedge, and Mount Inflexible
Looking back at the ascent
route and the summit of Heart Mountain
The vertical walls of Heart
Mountain, as seen from the west slopes, below the summit
More interesting scenery on
descent
One of a few waterfalls
along Heart Creek
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