Old Goat Mountain attempt – August 26, 2006          

Roundtrip time: 8:30

Scrambling and a little mountaineering with Mark.

An attempt of the east ridge of Old Goat Mountain had been on our hit-list ever since we did a snowshoe ascent to Old Goat Glacier in May of 2004. A friend gave me a good route description that approaches the start of the ridge from the south, however, Mark and I were stuck with the idea that we could ascend Old Goat Glacier to the col and then up from there.

Much of the day’s excitement actually occurred long before we even reached the glacier. We decided to take a more interesting route up to the glacier, ascending alongside a scenic, multi-tiered waterfall. This very circuitous route turned into some very difficult scrambling and a few lower fifth class moves. Fortunately, we had a rope and some climbing protection with us, making life a little easier (and less dangerous!).  

Hiking along the left side of the glacier, we were surprised to see a lone hiker on the ice sheet below. Crevasses were all visible and snow remained only on the upper reaches of the glacier, so he seemed to be quite safe. We soon ran into him, as we were preparing to ascend the glacier and very generously he offered us a pair of binoculars to see the upper section of the glacier. To our surprise, the bergschrund appeared to be fairly large and open, except for a snow-bridge on the far left hand side.

We ascended the glacier, confident that the snow-bridge would be sufficient for us to get passed the bergschrund and to the col. To our utter amazement, the bergschrund was not only fairly large, it was downright humongous! You could probably hide the entire population of Saskatchewan in that thing! Mark went to check out the snow-bridge, only to find that it was wafer thin, and may have held the weight of your average anorexic mouse, but was no match for my studdly 145 pounds of flesh and bone. It was a no-brainer and we quickly retreated.

Once back on solid rubble and scree, we decided to gain the ridge to the east of the glacier, with the hopes of reaching the east ridge via a long and narrow ridgewalk up high. Getting on the ridge was easy, but soon it narrowed to a knife-edge, with significant exposure on both sides. As well, there appeared to be a notch in the ridge that would definitely be problematic. After our “notch” experience on Kitchener, a week earlier, I personally had vowed to give up notches for 40 days (a very early Lenten sacrifice). Time was also a concern and again we backed down, enjoying a leisurely and easy descent back to the car.   

The first of a few scenic waterfalls

Mark attempts to cross to the other side of the fall

Difficult scrambling by the falls 

Above the falls

Mark approaches a small tarn; Old Goat Mountain and its east ridge to the right

Hiking along the moraine

More of the moraine and the east face of Old Goat

On the glacier

Mark on the glacier, with the east ridge to the right

Mark approaches the bergschrund

Where the ice meets of rock

Mark checks out the snow-bridge

A side view of the snow-bridge

In a moment of clarity, I venture out onto the bridge unroped!

Picking a route to gain the ridge east of Old Goat

The weakness we ascended up

Mark relaxing on the ridge

Where the ridge narrowed

Big Sister and part of the Spray Lake

Note: Hopefully, everyone figured the photo of me on the snow-bridge is completely "doctored" - good old Photoshop!

LOG