The Croissant V, The Muffin IV,
and a wee bit of Bakery Peak
February 22, 2020
Mountain heights: 2097 m, 2000 m
Elevation gain: approximately 800 m
Roundtrip time: 5:20
Scramble with Mark.
Initially, the objective of the day was going to be a repeat ascent of Livingstone South – a trip I have very fond memories of.
However, after arriving in Pincher Creek and opening the car doors to a gale force wind,
we wrote that idea off and tried to think of a route that may be sheltered
from the onslaught. The Muffin immediately came to mind. 
It has a short
approach and a south facing drainage between two ridges that would likely
protect us from the violent winds, gusting to a forecasted 90 km/h. Interestingly,
this would be Mark’s first trip on any part of amazing Loaf Mountain, even
though he has ascended the majority of peaks in The Castle. I had
completed this trip a week earlier, but was more than happy to show Mark some
of the fantastic scenery the mountain offers.
We battled the wind for the easy 1 km approach and then made our way up
to the frozen waterfall. The rock around the fall had “wowed” me twice before
and there was no reason to think a repeat performance wasn't in order. Well,
let’s says The Castle never disappoints – the rock was amazing and with clear
blue skies above, the frozen waterfall simply awe-inspiring! Highlight #1.
After a lengthy stay and the requisite overkill of photos we attempted
to follow the route Dave and I had taken on our Bakery Peak trip, left of the
waterfall. Unfortunately, our progress halted when icy conditions made for very
tenuous scrambling. Erring on the side of caution, we backed down and then
scrambled up easy terrain on the right side to get above the waterfall.
Highlight #2 of the day followed, as we ascended the beautiful drainage
between The Croissant and The Muffin. Replete with terrific rock scenery, a few
small frozen waterfalls, and a perfect bed of hard (but not too hard) snow for easy
travel, this drainage was a dream – super fun and satisfying to ascend. And
things just got better after that.
Perhaps the third highlight of the day was the best, and not
surprisingly, red argillite was involved! I knew the upper southeast slopes of
The Croissant were comprised entirely of red argillite and had ascended through
a short section of the colourful rock on my last ascent. However, I really
didn’t appreciate the magnitude or scale of their beauty until this day. The clear
sky continued to hold (for now anyway) and with some surrounding snow these red
rock bands and slopes were spectacular. Mark commented on their similarity
to perhaps my favourite scramble of all time – Crypt Peak. Given more time and
guaranteed blue skies, we could have easily spent half the day there, simply exploring
this stunning area.
Nevertheless, the summit of The Croissant was calling and once we reached
the ridge it was only a short walk (now against a vicious wind) to the top. Deteriorating
weather to the west and the strong winds put a damper on our very short summit stay.
After a little discussion we did decide that continuing on towards Bakery Peak
was worth the time and effort, though we had no delusions of actually reaching
that summit.
Upon reaching the first major highpoint of Bakery, we decided to call it
a day. There was little hope the weather would improve and as Dave and I had
discovered on our first attempt of Bakery, it’s east ridge is best ascended
when essentially snow-free. Just in case the weather did improve, however, we
did re-ascend The Croissant, traversed over to The Muffin, and then used the
east face descent route I had used a week earlier. Although a near whiteout
didn’t materialize, the trip ended with snow and under cloudy skies – very similar
to the last trip.
Overall, one of the
coolest days we’ve had out in a while. I sometimes point out trips that I would
love to do “once a year, every year until I die” – this one I could do “once a
week”!
Leaving the gas road and heading up to the drainage
Mark approaches the colourful rock
First little taste of some of the best rock in The Castle (best looking, but unfortunately not best quality!)
Can't get enough of this section
We needed crampons and ice axes for this section and for much of the remainder of the trip
More sections of awesome rock
What's around the corner?
This!
Mark passes under the frozen waterfall and striking rock
Colourful rock to the right of the fall
Mark looks for a route up
My turn to check out the waterfall
Retreat, after failing to ascend to the rock left of the fall
Back at the fall and mesmerized by it
Looking up
Mark leads us around the other side of the waterfall
Easy and pleasant scrambling to get above the fall
A little traversing to get us back into the drainage
Perfect snow conditions for easy travel
Mark approaches the second frozen waterfall
Little, but it's a stunner!
Checking out the quality of the ice. Unfortunately, like the rock it was not good.
Atop the fall
Mark ascends rock by the fall
Continuing up the terrific drainage
Another frozen waterfall
Something is on the skyline
It's a group of deer ascending the adjacent ridge that I was on a week earlier
Someone is anxious to get to the top of The Croissant
Red argillite ahead!
Random red argillite scenery
Orange lichen on red argillite, with a little snow and a blue sky - a pretty unbeatable combination
Looking back, the argillite slopes don't look so red, because of the position of the Sun
Time to gain the ridge
Gaining the ridge. The summit is a short distance away.
Mark takes the final few steps
Somewhat dreary summit view, with Drywood Mountain
Down at The Croissant/Bakery col
The hard, wind-blown snow was perfect to ascend
....thank goodness for crampons though
Mark circumvents a steep step along the ridge
The impressive, near-vertical south side of the ridge
Found Dave's "A" again!
Reaching our highpoint in deteriorating weather conditions
Mark looks at the awesome continuation of the ridge
Returning from our break spot behind a rock band
Descent
A few breaks in the clouds gave us some false hope for better weather
As such, we re-ascended The Croissant, as opposed to taking an experimental route down, via a ridge on the south face
A favourite scene on the ridge
Looking down the drainage we came up. Doesn't look half as impressive in the dreary weather.
More super cool snow ridges to descend
Summit cairn on The Muffin also looking a little lacklustre
This snow slope made the descent off The Muffin easy, fast, and fun
Near the end of the trip, with the east and southeast sides of The Muffin behind
The End
LOG