"Little Temple"
June 4, 2016
Mountain
height: 2650 m
Elevation gain: 940
m
Ascent
time: 2:55
Descent
time: ?
Solo
scramble.
“Little
Temple” (obviously a small peak connected to Mount Temple) has seen a number of
ascents over the years, from various directions. My interest in ascending this
mountain was piqued upon seeing Marko Starvic’s route
via Temple Lake.
However, having only visited Lake Annette during the winter months, I
was also interested in seeing the lake when it was snow and ice-free. Therefore
I decided to combine the routes – up via Lake Annette and down via Temple Lake.
Needless
to say, good to outstanding views of Mount Temple’s stunning north face were
the feature of the trip. It took me 1.25 hours to make it to the scenic shores
of Lake Annette and from there another 1.5 hours to the summit of Little
Temple. While Temple was front and centre throughout the ascent, views across
the valley towards Mounts Aberdeen and Lefroy were nothing to sneeze at either!
After
enjoying a wonderful summit panorama I continued on to the lower northeast
summit. This certainly was not the pushover I was expecting, requiring a very
steep descent down a gully choked with snow. Fortunately I had crampons and an
ice axe and was down the gully in short order. The view from the lower summit
was marginally different from that of the true summit; just enough to warrant
the sometimes tricky traverse.
I then
enjoyed an easy descent directly down to Temple Lake and an even more enjoyable
circumnavigation of the lake. Temple Lake is a real stunner and worthy of exploration.
Especially interesting was all the avalanche debris slowly melting in the lake.
As well, the area is littered in larches – I guess I should have woken up a
little later that morning - about 4 months later!!
Exiting
the Temple Lake valley also provided a beautifully scenic experience: vibrantly
green, mossy terrain lining the outlet stream, an abundance of larches, and of
course the magnificent form of Mount Temple overlooking all.
An easy
descent alongside Temple Creek followed. Although the trail goes all the way
down to the Moraine Lake Road, it also intersects an excellent trail that stays
in the forest and leads back to the Paradise Valley trailhead. Needless to say
I took the forest trail – I’ll take 3.5 km in the forest as opposed to the same
distance along a car/bus invested road any day!
