Pastry Peak IV

 
July 5, 2022
 
Mountain height: 2464 m
Elevation gain:    1171 m
Round-trip time:  6:30
 
Solo scramble.
 
I set out to attempt the northeast peak of Cloudowan Peak from the Yarrow Creek side. However, after two straight days of torrential rain in the area, everything in sight from the trailhead was drenched or a muddy mess – no thanks!
 
Since there was no Plan B, I right away defaulted to something on the south side of Loaf Mountain. That side is a gold mine of super interesting ascent routes and even after taken multiple lines, I still have many more to check out.
 
Initially, I was thinking about a route close to the summit, but after completing the bike approach, I opted for a different one. In May of 2019 Dave and I had reached a plateau east of Pastry Peak (the middle summit of Loaf) and in April of 2022 Dave, Brad, and I had reached Pastry Peak from a point where I now stood. Between the plateau and Pastry lie unknown territory for me and that became the day’s objective.

To reach the plateau, however, I opted for a new route right up the drainage to the right of the starting point. And did that decision ever pay off! The drainage was spectacular, with one small waterfall after another. The long-exposure feature of my phone camera got its most intense workout to date! Fortuitously, the drainage also took me to the base of the gully that Dave and I had used to reach the plateau.  
 
The goal, at this point, was to see if the ridge could be scrambled. From afar it looked to be quite challenging and very exposed – close up, even more so on both counts! Nevertheless, it was worth a go. Within a few minutes, I arrived at a very exposed section that I knew I could scramble up but would be unnerving to downclimb. I couldn’t see the terrain above. Dave often quotes, “There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old, bold climbers!”. On those wise words, I backed down.
 
Circumventing the exposed section presented no difficulties and soon I was on familiar terrain and close to Pastry. The scenic hike with a little scrambling to the summit was unfortunately in deteriorating weather conditions. As such, my summit stay was very short.  

 
For descent, my intention was to follow the ascent route I completed On April Fool’s Day on 2013, but in reverse. However, yet again this magnificent mountain invited me to try a new route down, on the west side of the ridge east of the true summit. The route went without difficulty but did leave a relatively long hike back to my bike. Of course, the return bike ride was anything but long, taking about 6 minutes to cover 4 km of gravel road.
 
Loaf delivers yet another wonderful experience of fun and interesting terrain, terrific views, and a few surprises.   

Lost count of the number of times I've been at this trailhead, but I'm sure it's over 20



Stopping to photograph the waterfall that becomes this in winter



At the start of the route up - doesn't look all that exciting (yet!)



In the drainage that leads almost all the way to the ridge - still doesn't look like much



Here we go - the start of endless waterfalls and endless long exposure photos!











And the odd scene of skeletal remains



Back to waterfalls















Looks like the end of the waterfall scenery



But no!



Looking over to Spionkop Ridge



















The end?



No



The waterfalls scenery finally ends, but the amazing rock scenery of Loaf takes over











The route goes between the rock bands left and right of centre











Traversing along the base was possible at this point, but that route would have bypassed the terrain I was looking to explore



Back in the gully Dave and I used in 2019 to access the ridge



No shortage of cool rock to ogle at while going up the gully











Deja vu - this is where Dave and I eventually arrived on our awesome Bakery Peak trip



Views from the ridge are excellent and include the distinctive form of Castle Peak to the northwest



Looking east to the elusive summit at the east end of Loaf



Drywood Mountain immediately north



Heading west towards the crux of the trip



The crux in the centre and the colourful summit of Pastry at the far right



Closing in on the scary part of the trip



Started off okay but got pretty serious, pretty quickly. I backed down shortly after this.



Checking out Drywood again before I backed down



There were bypass routes on both sides of the narrow ridge - I took the left side



Back on the ridge



I did walk back to check out the crux from above and it appeared to be straightforward



Back to checking out the cool lichen-covered rock



Loaf in the centre and Pastry to the right



On familiar terrain



Pleasant ridgewalking...



...followed by pleasant scrambling



Victoria Peak and Pincher Ridge are now visible to the north



Time for close-ups of rock and lichen



Approaching the east end of the summit block







Heading around the left side of the summit block as Dave, Brad, and I did before



Taking the same photographs as Dave, Brad, and I had before



But who wouldn't want to capture this magic again?!











Looking back to the east



Instead of taking the gully Dave, Brad, and I had ascended to the summit, I continued farther around to see more rock scenery























Summit of Pastry



The summit of Loaf is still some distance away and the clouds have moved in - time to call it a day



Heading down one of the south ridges. My intention was to descend to the left, but I ended up going right



The view to the left (southeast)



The view to the right (southwest)



Descending southwest



Lots of interesting terrain on the way down







Almost down to the hanging valley



The hanging valley



Easy terrain to get back down to the trail











Still descending to the valley bottom



Looking up the route I just came down



Back at the end of the gas road and ready to coast 4 km back to the start

The End

LOG