Prairie Bluff III
December
29, 2011
Mountain
height: 2258
m
Elevation gain:
700 m
Ascent time: 2:35
Descent
time: 1:45
Solo
scramble.
One
problem with driving to the mountains without a specific objective in
mind is
that sometimes by the time you’ve found something of interest, half the
day may
be wasted. Such was the case as I drove south in search of something to
do.
Suffering (?) from a very bruised and swollen little toe, after a
particularly
nasty toe-stubbing incident on Christmas Day, I was looking for a short
and
easy snowshoe trip. 
I started in the Crowsnest area only to find a
lack of snow
precluded any ideas of staying on snowshoes. Next I drove to the Castle
Mountain Ski Resort in hopes of attempting Haig Ridge, as described by
Bob
Spirko. The Gondola, ski runs, and several hundred skiers now residing
on that
ridge put me off that idea right away. The miserable weather didn’t
have me
breaking out the hula-loop in a celebratory dance either! A little
disillusioned, I backed tracked to the east, eventually finding myself
at the
Victoria Ridge trailhead. Innumerable visits to this area and has it
never
failed to impress me. I hoped this day would be no exception.
Upon
arriving, I immediately settled on the idea of the southeast
ridge of
Prairie Bluff. 
It
fulfilled the “short and easy” criteria, but would unfortunately
not meet the “snowshoe” one. Nevertheless, two previous visits to the
summit
had both been rewarding and I suspected that this route would have at
least a
couple of interesting features.
The
sky was surprisingly clear above the peak, making the hike to the base
of the
ridge is a very pleasant and scenic one. The
second and perhaps most impressive
scenic feature of the trip appeared in the form of a magnificent band
of
exposed rock, low down on the south face. Like the rock encountered on
our
first trip up a more westerly outlier of the mountain, the contrasting
and
colourful layers of argillites and shales was fantastic.
Above
the band, a red argillite scree slope led to more amazing rock features
on the
east side of the ridge. The lichen-covered conglomerations of dark
igneous rock
were not as vibrantly coloured as the aforementioned rockband, but
equally
fascinating to explore.
An
easy plod to the summit concluded the ascent. The weather took a turn
for the
worse during this section, but still the scenery along the east ridge
was cause
for several photos breaks.
For
descent I went down easy scree slopes, west of the ascent route and
then
followed a drainage out to base of the south-southeast ridge. With
(way) more
snow this route would make a fantastic ski or snowshoe descent.
Yet
again the Castle saves the day with another terrific route up a
terrific
mountain.
Approaching
the Castle Mountain Ski Resort; the ridge I wanted to try is on the
left, with ski runs near the bottom;
Mount
Haig (centre) and Gravenstafel Ridge (right)
On
the drive to Victoria Ridge trailhead; from left to right Drywood
Mountain, Pincher Ridge,
Victoria
Peak, the multiple outliers of Prairie Bluff and Prairie Bluff at the
far right
Pincher
Ridge (left) and Victoria Peak
Prairie
Bluff; summit at the right
The
usual batch of repetitive photos, but this is such a beautiful area of
The Rockies
Two
of the best ascents of the area: Victoria Peak (left) and the western
outlier of Prairie Bluff
Same
as above, with Prairie's middle outlier
Leaving
the parking area
The
objective
The
trio again
Nothing
like a clear sky and fresh snow to spruce up the leafless trees
Same
as above
The
south face
The
wind moving snow on Pincher Ridge
One
of the wire fences I hopped over
Another
light stand to trees to get by
Starting
up the south face
More
wind effects
Colours
of the south face
Tenacious
evergreens cling onto the side of the face
Approaching
the first rockband
Beautiful,
layered rock
Same
as above
Same
as above
The
red argillite slopes above the rockband, leading to the scenic south end
of the ridge
Same
as above
Approaching
the igneous band
Solid
igneous rock
Lichen
More
pinnacles
Same
as above
The
prairies immediately to the east - hence the name "Prairie Bluff"
The
southeast ridge
More
prairies and colourful rock
The
obligatory shot of Victoria Peak
Snow
on the east face
Same
as above
Looking
down the southeast ridge
Castle
Peak and Windsor Mountain at the right
Looking
along the wide west ridge
The
summit cairn/log
Same
as above, looking northwest towards the Crowsnest area
The
alternate descent route
A
last look at Victoria
The
southeast ridge gets some Sun again
A
few white-tailed deer fulfill the wildlife element of the trip
Looking
down the descent route
Looking
up the descent route
Same
as above
Same
as above
Clouds
over the Castle
Same
as above