"Takakkaw Peak" attempt

July  31, 2017
 
Solo scramble.
 
What a shame I wasn’t able to complete the final 350 horizontal metres to the summit of this fascinating mountain, named appropriately by Marko Stavric, given its proximity to famous Takakkaw Falls. A long section of the ascent from the valley floor to the upper valley was some of the most enjoyable scrambling I’ve ever experienced. 
 
“Takakkaw Peak” lies west of the Daly Glacier and Waputik Icefield, due south of Mount Balfour and northwest of Mount Niles. The President Range and the des Poilus Glacier sit to the west of the mountain. In other words, a magnificent summit panorama is pretty much guaranteed.
 
Marko suggested a slightly different route up to the valley than he and his party had taken and so after hiking to Takakkaw Falls, I scrambled through a pretty cool boulder field and then followed the raging Yoho River to the Angels Staircase Falls drainage. Quickly it became evident as to the naming of Angels Staircase Falls – it literally is a giant staircase of rock, carved out by water. The staircase looked pretty neat from the bottom, but that turned out to be a wicked understatement. Ascending this seemingly never-ending staircase was, as stated, one of best scrambling experiences I’ve ever had. The rock was beautifully solid with tons of great foot and handholds. There were easy routes, difficult routes, routes that crossed from one side to the other, and throughout, an innumerable amount of small waterfalls, each cascading into its own deep well – magnificent!
 
Atop the falls, I entered into a pleasant valley and then made a direct assault on the south ridge of the objective. Unfortunately the forest fire smoke was thick throughout the day, detracting considerably from what should have been wonderful glacier and mountain scenery.
 
The hike/scramble to what I thought was the summit turned out to be quite foreshortened, with some route-finding through steep rock bands. And time became an issue, as I needed to be back in Calgary by 6 pm to pick up my English relatives from the airport. It was disheartening to reach the false summit (only 350 horizontal metres from the true summit) to discover a daunting looking summit ridge to contend with and no time to make that attempt. The ridge may have gone as a scramble or it may not, but I will have to return someday to find out.
 
For descent, I took an unnecessarily circuitous route via the south ridge of the objective, since the scenery was so interesting and the smoke was starting to clear. The remainder of the descent went without a hitch, except for a very, very brief attempt to ford the Yoho River at the bottom of Angels Staircase Falls. I took three steps into the river, the water level rising almost up to my waist and turned immediately back around. Slow-moving waist deep water does not bother me too much, however, as stated earlier, the river was raging and it would have been suicide to attempt a crossing.
 
I’ll be back!!


The start of the ascent drainage doesn't look too impressive



This is looking a little better



Much better!



Looking down the first section of Angels Staircase Falls



And then it goes on for more great scenery and scrambling



Lots of solid rock up here



And lots of pools of crystal clear water









  Very smoky conditions made for very limited views



Into the upper valley



Mount McArthur is the distant glaciated peak, just right of centre



Takakkaw Lake and shapely Mount Niles (left)



Mount Stephen and Wapta Mountain would look great under normal conditions



The objective



On the ridge and heading to the false summit



Mont des Poilus (centre) and Mount Collie to the right



The Presidents at the left



Mount Daly is reported to be one of the most scenic scrambles in the area



The summit ridge, as seen from the false summit



A closer at the potential difficulties of the summit ridge and summit block



With the smoke starting to clear des Poilus (left) and Collie take on a more appealing look. Much of the route up Yoho Peak (one of my personal favourites)
can be seen (although the actual mountain is difficult to pick out - it's almost directly under des Poilus)



Checking out a small tarn on descent



The deservedly famous 300 vertical metres of Takakkaw Falls

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