Prairie Bluff IV

Prairie Bluff IV

March 29, 2017

Mountain height: 2258 m
Elevation gain:     558 m
Ascent time:        1:35
Descent time:      1:05

Solo scramble.

The purpose of a fourth ascent of lowly Prairie Bluff was to find the shortest route to the summit, with the least amount of elevation gain. Mark and I had completed a similar route via the ridge to the west, but this route would go more directly to the ridge and then to the summit. From the park area (already at an impressive 1711 m above sea level) the route looked straightforward, if somewhat boring. A rockband about hallway up appeared to be the only obstacle, but also looked easy to get around. Dreary weather conditions also contributed to this choice of mountain.

The ascent went exactly as planned until I reached the rockband. From afar it looked (as stated) boring – a dark strip of rock lining the face; up close that dark rock was astonishing, covered in bright yellow, green and orange lichens. Not only that, but there were multiple scrambling routes up through this super cool band of rock. Above that, another easy section of hiking led to the second rockband, this time compromised of my personal favourite - red argillite. This rock step didn’t appear to be as impressive as the dark band and so I bypassed it and went directly to the summit, only a short hike away. Still, I found the overall route to be fun and far more interesting than predicted.

My summit stay was short, due to the lacklustre weather and the fact that I had already decided to take an alternate descent route, between the ridge I had just ascended and the one Mark and I had done previously. This descent turned out to be more challenging than predicted. I was hoping to glissade a good portion of the route, however, the slopes were very steep, quite icy and the middle of the gully was interrupted by three small but scary-looking frozen waterfalls – not glissadeble!! I instead settled for a slow plod down.

Too bad about the dismal weather, but mission accomplished – a short, easy and surprisingly scenic route up one of my favourite mountains in The Castle.