Lipalian Mountain

February 28, 2009

Mountain heights:       2714 m
Elevation gain:            1000 m
Ascent time:              6:00
Descent time:              2:10

Snowshoeing with Mark.

A winter ascent of Lipalian Mountain is well described in Chic Scott’s Summits and Icefields. However, in order to avoid the steep, avalanche slopes he describes, we picked a longer, but safer route up, that goes around the east side of what I think is called Wolverine Ridge. That was the plan…until a big, juicy ski run on the Lake Louise Ski Resort appeared on the west side of Wolverine Ridge. Plodding easily up the side of the ski run to the west or wading through knee-to waist deep to the east – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which route we took!

While this route started off tremendously well, it eventually led to the very difficulties we were trying to avoid. Gaining the south end of Wolverine Ridge was as strenuous as anything we’ve ever done, sinking to our waists on steep slopes. In order to minimize exposure to avalanche terrain we ascended mostly through the trees, where the snow was completely unsupportive. At least the dismal weather conditions started to improve, granting us good views toward the objective.

Halfway up the slope (and totally bummed-out by the time and energy expended up to that point) we had pretty much written off Lipalian and would settle for the top of Wolverine Ridge. Thankfully, the trip improved dramatically upon reaching the ridge. The panorama was terrific, even though the perfect weather forecast never materialized. As well, travel was far easier and we started towards Purple Peak (the unofficial bump east of Lipalian).

The ascent of Purple was easy and the most interesting part of the day, the gentle snow covered slopes and the odd tree providing outstanding scenery. At the top, the summit view was terrific. Unfortunately, cloud cover persisted to the west and therefore I was not particularly motivated to continue to Lipalian. Nevertheless, the weather was rapidly changing and we quickly traversed over to the summit – again an easy affair, with some pleasant snow scenery along the way. The clouds did clear for a few minutes. The view towards Temple and the Valley of the Ten peaks was expectedly grand, but would have been better with clearer skies.

For descent, we didn’t see any harm in checking out the direct route to the ski area. It looked to be straightforward with little to no snow cover on the steepest sections. Halfway down, we ran into three ski patrollers on their way up Lipalian. There they putting up signs to stop people from doing exactly what we were doing – descending the north slopes. Apparently the resort is trying to discourage people from ascending or descending Lipalian via this route. Following their tracks down made very easy work of the descent down to the upper chair lift, where more friendly resort staff directed us to the easiest run down to the bottom. Out came the crazy carpets and down we went.

A day of ups and downs, but definitely a very worthwhile trip in an outstanding area.