Pulsatilla Mountain

Pulsatilla Mountain

August 5, 2010

Mountain height:         3034 m
Total elevation gain:    approx. 2300 m
Ascent time:                6:20
Descent time:              5:00

Solo scramble.

Thank goodness for people like Rick Collier, Graeme Pole, and Bob Spirko, who have and continue to post interesting trip reports of lesser known mountains. These days, were it not for some of those articles, my typical trip report would read as follows: “Couldn’t think of what the heck to do so I stayed at home with a single Moosehead beer and watched reruns of “Seinfeld”.”

Pulsatilla Mountain is one of those peaks I’ve thought about doing, but the sheer horizontal distance via Rockbound Lake and elevation gain put me off. After a fairly long day doing Helena Ridge, Stuart Knob, and T.V. Peak in 2005, I was in no rush to repeat a trip in the same area with similar distance and elevation gain statistics. That was until I saw Bob’s recent Protection Mountain trip report. Bob outlined a much shorter route via Protection Mountain. The total elevation gain would still be significant, but at least I wouldn’t have to do the long Rockbound Lake trail for a third time.

The unsigned trailhead was easy to find, thanks to Mike Potter’s instructions in Ridgewalks in the Canadian Rockies. Hiking the long Protection Mountain trail was also a pleasant surprise. It was easy to follow and gently graded.

At the former lookout site, several routes to the ridge offered themselves up. Initially, I was going to trend south to gain the ridge through up an obvious break in the cliffband guarding the ridge. However, upon gaining a little elevation, a more direct route to the north, through a small scree gully in the band revealed itself and so I went in that direction. Though the shortcut involved only a few moves of scrambling, the rock on either side of the gully was colourful and impressively steep.

From the Protection Mountain ridge, there again appeared to be multiple route options to Pulsatilla. The most direct route looked quite scenic, but also required the biggest elevation loss (approximately 550 m). The route with the least amount of downhill was very circuitous. As such, I took an in-between route, losing about 350 vertical metres of elevation in the process. The ups and downs of the glacially-scoured valley below added more to the elevation gains and losses, but they were all relatively small.

Finally at the base of the objective, more route decisions had to be made: 1. short, direct, but least scenic route; 2. longer route that gains elevation immediately and is potentially more scenic. Given that most (but not all) of my decisions in the mountains are based on the potential to see interesting scenery and views I chose route 2.

This route started with some fun scrambling, but quickly turned into a labourious scree/talus traverse. I was also starting to tire of the same scenery and wanted something more. Thus, another route decision was made and I headed straight up the mountain in an attempt to gain the west ridge immediately. This decision had one very positive outcome and one troublesome consequence.

After finding a weakness in the upper rock-band, I scrambled up to the ridge to the surprise vista of Pulsatilla’s north glaciers. I had completely forgotten about the glaciers, since the map I was using did not depict them. Although in magnitude and elegance they paled in comparison to those seen recently around Mount Forbes, as we all know, snow and ice add immeasurably to any mountain scene. This would turn out to provide some of the best views of the trip. All of a sudden, life was awesome again!

The troublesome consequence reared its troublesome head as I traversed the scenic ridge to suddenly arrive at the dead-end (ie. severe drop-off). Options, at this point were to backtrack, losing an enormous amount of elevation in the process, or to circumvent the drop-off by going onto the glacier on the north side of the ridge. Usually I would agonize for an eternity about these kinds of decisions, but surprisingly, I had crampons on my feet and ice axe in hand within minutes – decision made!

Stepping onto a glacier as a solo, unroped traveler is something I vowed never to do (Mark and I are probably two and of a mere handful of people who actually roped up to cross the glacier on Warrior Mountain – though we were halfway across before we realized it!) However, in this specific case the danger appeared to be minimal and foreseeable. That is, I would be traveling above the bergschrund, the distance was less than 200 m, and my hiking pole could be used to probe for holes. Calculated risks are part of the mountain experience and here was a fine one. The rising traverse across the top of the glacier was slow, as I probed for holes on step every. Thankfully, there was solid ground (or ice) just below the surface of the snow and I felt quite safe.

Atop the glacier, the remainder of the ascent was easy and very scenic, courtesy of the terrific drop on the east side of the mountain and an ocean (not just a sea!) of beautiful peaks on the same side. The summit view was likewise absolutely fantastic, even though forest fire smoke obscured much of the panorama to the west. The multitude of unnamed, distinctive peaks to the northeast, east and southeast definitely outshone their more notable counterparts in the Lake Louise/Moraine Lake, to the west. This was perhaps in part due to their close proximity, but also because of their consistent southwest to northeast slope orientation – it was like looking at 100 Mount Rundle’s, all crammed into one area.

I expected the summit register, placed there in 1994 by Graeme and Marnie Pole, to contain one or two entries at most, but there was a whopping seven, including a very recent ascent by fellow school teacher Grant Myers (more commonly known as Granticulus). Grant had not only reached the summit Pulsatilla, but also Castle Mountain, Helena Ridge, Stuart Knob, and T.V. Peak, all in the same trip. I can’t even begin to imagine the fitness-level required for such a Herculean undertaking. Well done, Grant!

My summit stay was long, mostly because I was thoroughly enjoying the summit view, but also partly because I was dreading the return trip. The glacier wasn’t an issue. I had already picked an alternate descent route that completely avoids the glacier, long before I stepped onto it. However, the necessary elevation gain back to the ridge of Protection Mountain was certainly less than appealing. I therefore took a slightly more circuitous route back that would lessen the elevation gain by a small amount, and also allow me to see more on this interesting valley.

The descent route started off really well, with terrific waterfall and rock scenery, and later a host of beautiful tarns. Unfortunately, my intended route took me too far south and by the time I had reached Protection’s ridge I was much closer to T.V. Peak than my original ascent route. A very long and tedious side-sloping traverse was required to get back to the original line. Plus, I had to gain back almost all the elevation I trying to avoid. Only more colourful rock and water scenery made travel somewhat bearable. Thankfully, the main trail was super easy to descend.

A very entertaining day out.

On the drive there; the colours are a good indication that smoke haze is in the air