Helena Ridge - East Peak
March 17,
2019
Mountain
height: 2075 m
Elevation gain: 1140 m
Roundtrip
time: 7:05
Snowshoeing with Mark.
Wow, Wow, and triple WOW for
Helena Ridge – East Peak!!
Matthew Clay
hit the jackpot with this new route and judging by the number of ascents since
their maiden voyage on February 18 of this year, there are many that agree – Vern,
Marko,
Alison
to name a few. The two others parties gearing up in the Rockbound Lake parking
lot at 7:25 am, also heading up to Helena, further indication of the growing
popularity of the route.
With a
significant increase in avalanche risk, this trip seemed to be a good choice,
instead of a more ambitious objective – ambitious being quite relative – 16 km
of snowshoeing with 1140 m of elevation gain is hardly trivial! Of course the
heavily packed down Rockbound Lake trail certainly eased the physical
challenges of the 5 km approach and another solid ski/snowshoe trail made easy
work of the ascent. Many thanks to the original trail-breakers and all who
preceded us to solidify the trail.
The scenery (somewhat lackluster for the
first 2 hours) started to improve dramatically above treeline. Needless to say,
Castle Mountain and its many highpoints and outliers garnered most of the
attention early on. Soon after, peaks around Highway 93 South made an
auspicious appearance.
At one point we decided to leave the packed
down trail to see if anything of interest lie along the ridge. Turned out there
was nothing to see except stunning views of mountains to the south and
southeast. Following the ridge, we soon hit a false summit and then continued
north to the true summit. The cornice scenery along the way was some of the
best we had ever seen.
One
skier had already passed us on the
Rockbound Trail and now a party of two skiers caught up, heading
directly to
the summit, instead of along the ridge. We had a pleasant conversation
with
Pawel and Calin at the summit and then decided to check out a short
continuation of the trip by following the ridge to a small col to the
west. Up to this point, the trip had by leaps and bounds exceeded our
expectations and another little diversion was simply too good to pass
on.
An easy descent to the col preceded a very short
but insanely scenic ascent up the other side. The east face of Helena Ridge is
remarkably colourful and striking, featuring several towers of beautiful rock.
I made a very brief attempt at ascending a snow-filled gully to get a better
look, however the risk of causing an avalanche was too high and I backed down
after a few steps. Along with the amazing cornice scenery, this little
diversion was definitely the highlight of the trip. For descent, we traversed
back to the ascent route and then returned the same way we came – long but
easy.
Wicked day out on an awesome route – thank you
Mr. Clay!
Eisenhower Tower is the first scenic treat of the trip
The 5.6 climbing route up the left side looks amazing!
Part of Helena Ridge makes its first appearance
Across the valley sits Storm Mountain
The outlier of Helena northwest of the East Peak
The huge Castle Mountain massif is front and centre throughout the ascent
Mount Whymper - terrific Kane scramble
Stuart Knob - another prominent peak on the Castle massif
A broken trail on gentle slopes - winter should always be this easy!
Mount Ball
Looking at something to the west!
...perhaps the increasingly fantastic view of peaks in Kootenay National Park
Detouring over to the west side of the ridge provided some pretty amazing views of mountains to the south
A little cornice scenery to whet our appetites
So many unnamed, beautiful peaks
The wind sculpted snow is not as dramatic as down south, but is still beautiful
The gentle curve of the hill in front in contrast with the jagged peaks behind was pretty cool
Another round of stunning, unnamed peaks make their appearance
....and the cornice scenery starts to get more dramatic
Unnamed stuff looking better than named stuff!
A duo of skiers (Pawel and Calin) make their way to the true summit
Pawel and the impressive form of Helena Ridge
The cornice on the east side was massive!
Time to pose - but a good distance from the edge
Another skier (who passed us at the turn-off to the ridge) is already at the summit, with Pawel and Calin getting close
Checking the cornice. Couldn't feel any rock down there.
One of the highlights of the trip was looking back at the cornice
scenery, while traversing from the false summit to the true summit
More cornice checking
Makes me yearn for soft serve ice cream
Mark steers clears of the cornice, as Calin and Pawel arrive at the summit
Great photo from Calin of Mark and me on the ridge (photo by Calin Adam)
Final few steps for me
Chatting with Pavel and Calin at the summit
Pilot Mountain - another great Kane scramble. Distant Mount Assiniboine (not a Kane scramble!) immediately to the left of Pilot
We were totally mesmerized by these very Himalayan-looking peaks to the east
Heading down to the col between the East Peak and the main massif of Helena Ridge
The east side of Helena is awesome!
Another terrific photo from our new friends (photo by Pawel)
Super easy descent to the col
Mark is dwarfed by the huge buttress ahead
Even more so!
...and again
Snowshoeing right up to the rock was probably the highlight of the day
Marks leads the way
Views to the west continue to impress
Mark sizes up the gully on the left
Had to get at least one photo with lichen covered rock in it!
The summit of the East Peak behind us
Mark managed to find a mini rock tower to pose upon
Watching the skiers descend
Calin and Pavel
Stunning rock
Mark takes up right to the base of the gully
Looking up the very tempting gully
Sweet mountain to the north
We did make a very short attempt to ascend the gully but it was too dangerous in its present condition
As far as I got
Heading back
Sad to leave this amazing area
Mark traverses back to our original line of ascent
Approaching the ski tracks
Why is Mark wearing different snowshoes? I thought I had repaired the damage to the Tubbs Flex from Surprise Pass, but failed.
Luckily I brought along an extra snowshoe!
The End
