Panorama Ridge
June 25, 2021
Mountain height: 2800 m
Elevation gain: 975
m
Round-trip time: 7:45
Solo scramble.
A rare Friday off work (except for all the
Fridays in July, August, half of December, and two during Easter, I guess!),
and a perfect weather forecast meant I was going to the mountains, for sure!
Picking an objective was perhaps the crux of
this trip. Mark and I were planning on an attempt of Mount Aberdeen the
following day, so I needed something relatively short and not too strenuous.
Panorama Ridge seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
Making sure I would get a parking spot at
insanely busy Moraine Lake (even on weekdays), I left Calgary early and arrived
at the lake around 5 am. The hike to Consolation Lakes was uneventful; crossing
the lake outlet also uneventful but oh so cold!! Needless to say, views of the
surrounding area were amazing, as was watching the Sun rise over mounts Babel,
Quadra, and Bident.
As Alan Kane describes, the ascent of Panorama
Ridge is very straightforward and takes you to the north summit of the mountain
(the somewhat distant south summit is slightly higher). Even after a long
summit stay, enjoying a terrific view, time was in abundance. I had no
intention of trying to get to the south summit, however, exploring the
Consolation Lakes area had great appeal. As such, I traversed the ridge south for a
short distance and then descended a different gully than on ascent. This gully provided
slightly different views and one section of exquisitely colourful quartzite
that stopped me dead in my tracks for additional exploration and umpteen
photos! Resuming travel, I soon arrived at the east side of the second lake and
then started hiking around it.
The far south end of the second lake turned
out to be the unexpected scenic highlight of the day for me, courtesy of some
beautiful hues in the crystal clear waters of the lake and distant but stunning
Mount Temple in the background. I was then able to circle around the west side
of both Consolation Lakes, again taking in plenty of magnificent scenery. And
not having to re-cross the lake outlet was a Godsend!
The trip turned out to be longer than
expected, but what an awesome trip it was. Two enthusiastic thumbs up for
Panorama Ridge!
Nearing the Consolation Lakes, the Sun lights up the upper portion of Mount Babel's awesome east face
The Sun also hits Mount Quadra
Babel's east face boasts a few very challenging climbing routes that might be doable for me if I'm reincarnated as Adam Ondra!
Crossing the Consolation Lakes outlet
The route up Panorama Ridge is as straightforward as it looks - right up the avalanche gully
Quadra
Hungabee Mountain and Eiffel Peak in the distant centre, and The Tower of Babel in front
Mount Temple
Mount Fay sits proudly between Babel and Quadra
\
An ascent of Panorama Ridge essentially features only one view (southwest and west), but what a view is it
Typical terrain on the upper mountain - lots of amazing quartzite
Nice to see some lichen, in addition to the fantastic views to the west
If in visual range, Mount Temple is always going to steal the Limelight (one of Rush's best songs)
Mount Fay
At a height almost equal to Temple, Hungabee asserts its presence in the area
The summit at the left and the sweet view everywhere else
Lots of quartzite blocks on the summit ridge to compliment the views and occasional snow scenery
Getting close
Like most mountains in the area (and the Rockies in general) the east face of Panorama Ridge is very steep
Summit view to the northwest
Closer look
Roaming around the summit to get a view to the south
Deltaform Mountain is another giant in the Moraine Lake area
Mount Daly, in the centre, is high on my to-do list of Kane scrambles
The higher south summit of Panorama in the foreground. The snowy
peaks on either side are Mount Ball (left) and Stanley Peak.
Summit cairn
Looking south along the ridge
The two Consolation Lakes complete the awesome summit view nicely
Heading south along the ridge
More quartzite
A couple of small tarns on the east side of the south summit
Still loving the views from the summit ridge
The south summit looks quite imposing from here
There also appear to be a few big elevation loses along the way
Heading down
Unfortunately the snow in the gully was rock hard and too risky to glissade
Nevertheless, the grassy slopes were easy to descend and gave me lots of time to enjoy the views
The start of a super cool section of colourful quartzite
Looking back up some of the descent route
Quartzite! One of the best rock types around: solid and colourful.
Resuming travel after a long bout of photos amid the cool rock
This would be a wild glissade with the right snow conditions
The two-pronged profile of Bident Mountain - easy to see how it got its name
Same for the four summits of Quadra
Mount Babel's name is based on its northern outlier, The Tower of Babel
(Biblical) - a popular, but dangerous scramble due to all the loose
boulders in the steep, narrow gully that must be ascended
Almost at the second lake, looking back up my ascent route (far left gully) and descent route (obvious gully in the center)
Fay, Babel, and the second Consolation Lake
This view from the south end of the second lake was the highlight of the day
Easy to see why
Hiking around the southwest side of the lake
The glacial bench below Quadra is awe-inspiring from all angles
Hard to make progress when there's a terrific view at every turn
All of Panorama Ridge
Amazing rock formations on the east side of Babel
And the fallen chunks of rock that have created those formations
Looking south to the northwest end of Mount Bell
Babel's daunting east face is going to keep me mesmerized for quite some time
So are Bell and Quadra
Near the north end of the second lake
Can't get enough of Babel
Approaching the south end of the first lake
The first Consolation Lake
Pretty neat reflections in the lake
However, my present obsession with reflections is perhaps because I'm
teaching the Optics unit in my Physics 30 class as I write this!
The colours here were stunning
Speaking of stunning - "hello" again Mount Babel!
Great lake colours again - how lucky we are to have easy access to such natural beauty
Lots of boulder hopping at the north end of the first lake
Last look at the objective and thankful I don't have to ford the lake outlet again
The End
LOG
