Triple Divide Peak and Norris Mountain
August 31, 2019
Mountain heights: 2446 m, 2709 m
Elevation gain: 1572 m
Roundtrip time: 11:45
Scrambling with Dave.
Talk about a barn-burner! This trip turned out to be a remarkable
adventure (good and not so good) and we certainly got far more than we
bargained for.
Arriving at the Cut Bank trailhead we had several options for trips but,
after much discussion settled on Triple Divide Peak, the hydrological apex of
Glacier National Park, ie it’s meltwaters flow into three different oceans (an
interesting, but totally irrelevant fact in regards to an ascent of the peak).
We had a description from Blake Passmore’s book Climb Glacier National Park,
Vol. 5 and the route appeared to be straightforward, except for some potential
class 4 terrain on the east face of the peak.
We cruised the trail to Triple Divide Pass, getting there in less than 3
hours. I had forgotten what a totally amazing trail this is – once some
elevation is gained, it’s red argillite heaven most of the way up!
From the Pass, the ascent of Triple Divide looked daunting at best and
downright terrifying at worst. Fortunately, its bark turned out to be worse
than its bite – initially, that is. We ascended third class terrain, until it
became fourth class and quite exposed. Thankfully, at this point, we could see
the goat trail ledge we were aiming for and after some careful climbing arrived
on the ledge. We breathed a sigh of relief, as the tough stuff was over – or so
we thought.
As advertised, the ledge was “easier” and leads to a short scramble to
the summit. What is not advertised is the testicle-shrinking exposure along the
way. I thought the ledge on the north side of Mount Clements was exposed, but
this one made Clements feel like a 4-lane wide highway! Dave fearlessly led the
traverse, while I fearfully followed, gasping on several occasions when the
ledge narrowed to the point where it hardly existed at all. Upon reaching the
wide ridge we were able to breathe a REAL sigh of relief!
The summit was reached shortly after, where we took in the very pleasant
panorama, though somewhat inferior to nearby Mount James, and marred a little
by cloud-cover. I also took a few moments to “contemplate my existence” after
that nail-biting ledge traverse. We then set our sights on Norris Mountain,
hoping its summit would yield with greater ease than Triple Divide’s.
Norris had no such intention of yielding with ease (though “Chuck” did –
a minor highpoint along the way that Dave fittingly named). Approaching the
summit block of Norris, Dave astutely pointed out there seemed to be an obvious
gully, left of the ascent route, that looked far easier than the suggested
line. Stubbornly, I reasoned that if the “obvious gully” was feasible, it would
have been recommended as a line of ascent or at least as a recommend descent
line.
I should have listened to Dave. We spend a good hour trying various
routes up the steep and exposed summit block, being extra careful to not
upclimb anything we couldn’t downclimb. Eventually, resignation set in. There
were definitely routes that would go, but we were both erring on the side of caution,
after the “surprise” on Triple Divide. We very slowly and cautiously
downclimbed what we had come up.
Back on safe terrain Dave suggested we try the route he spotted. Of
course I was all in. Even if we only got to the ridge to see the view on the
other side of the peak I would have been extremely happy, having spent an
inordinate amount of time trying to get to the top. Well, not only did Dave’s
route take us easily to the ridge, it also got us easily to the summit. After
all the trials and tribulations of the journey, taking the last few steps to
the top of Norris was sweeeeet!!
And of course the summit view was equally sweet, Norris absolutely dominating
Triple Divide in terms of elevation. We took an extended break to celebrate
this very cool and well-earned summit.
Thankfully, we knew the descent would be considerably easier than going
up. Dave’s Norris gully was godsend. We then side-sloped over to the south side
of Triple Divide and took the suggested circuitous, but easier and very scenic
line off Triple. This did entail downclimbing a pretty sketchy gully, but, in
retrospect, was quite mild compared to what preceded it on ascent.
We
then had the decision to drop down into the valley and re-ascend
manageable terrain to get back up to the Triple Divide Pass trail or
stay high
on what looked like more challenging terrain. I suggested we lose
elevation,
Dave wanted to stay high. We took Dave’s route and within a minute
found an
excellent trail going all the way back to Triple Divide Pass. Dave has
great
mountain instincts. Had I followed his suggestions throughout the day
we would have saved a great deal of time, energy, and unnecessary
route-finding. Next
trip with Dave, that’s exactly what I will do!
The long but mercifully easy 11.6 km hike was a fitting way to end an
awesome and unexpectedly challenging day out.
Click HERE and HERE to see Dave's excellent reports.
Parts of the Mad Wolf Circuit: Mad Wolf (left) and outliers of Bad Marriage Mountain (centre and right).
Dave affectionately named them “Divorcee” and “Divorcée”
Happy Hiker. Why?
Because we are on an amazing red argillite trail with beautiful lake and mountain views
Razoredge Mountain above Grizzly Medicine Lake is definfitely the highlight of the approach
Dave is enjoying it too
End of the red argillite, but views continue to impress
Triple Divide Peak is ahead and looking mighty fierce!
Still looking fierce
Heading up and hoping it's not as steep as it looks (photo by Dave)
Not too bad at this point (photo by Dave)
Dave ventures onto more serious terrain
Still smiling at this point (photo by Dave)
Dave leads the way up increasingly steep and exposed terrain
Now it's getting very serious!
Easy does it (photo by Dave)
Dave at the beginning of the goat trail ledge
He leads us along the narrow path that I will now call the "Triple Divide Ledge of Insanity"!
My turn. I was not smiling at this moment! (photo by Dave)
Relief is spelled "b-i-g %-#-@ w-i-d-e r-i-d-g-e"! (photo by Dave)
The vertinginuous look down the face, back to the pass (photo by Dave)
At the summit of Triple Divide Peak
It's a great day when you know there is an easier way down! (photo by Dave)
Dave scopes out of the route up Norris (left). Spilt Mountain in the middle and Mount James at the right.
Now he's back at the summit of Triple
A sweet summit view that would have been stunning with clear skies
Dave at the Triple/Norris col. "Chuck" is the pointy highpoint right of Norris.
Looking back to James and Triple
"Chuck" looks pretty cool from this angle
Triple Divide looks pretty vertical from this angle (thankfully, not the face of the mountain you have to ascend!)
James is definfitely the dominant mountain in the area
The lake below Split looked great when the Sun came out (photo by Dave)
Getting closer to Norris' challenging summit block
View to the north
Approaching the summit block of Norris. I was optimistic about finding
a route up here.
Dave had already pointed out the more obvious route to the
left.
It got pretty steep, pretty quickly
About this steep
Looking for a way up...... (photo by Dave)
....and then backing down (photo by Dave)
Tried this route.....(photo by Dave)
....but had to retreat (photo by Dave)
Finally on the sensible route up that Dave spotted (photo by Dave)
The hero of the day follows
Fun and easy terrain to finish the ascent (photo by Dave)
Dave checks the watch/GPS/tracker/pizza maker device on his wrist. That thing does everything!
Even in somewhat cloudy conditions Glacier is awesomely colourful!
Victory!
Super happy because I know there's an easy route off this one too! (photo by Dave)
Split Mountain looks like a long but fantastic day out
Dave signs the register
Probably our best failure to date, Mount Logan
Lowly Divide Mountain doesn't look so lowly from this vantage point
Triple Divide (right of centre, foreground), however, does look very low
Mount Rockwell has a very distictive shape
Flinsch Peak has a very aesthetic shape
Heading down. Unfortunately, Mount Stimson's summit (right) never revealed itself (photo by Dave)
Approaching the easy gully (photo by Dave)
I
guess it wasn't that easy, given that I chose to face-in. However,
compared the other routes we tried this one was gold (photo by Dave)
Side-sloping past "Chuck" to get the the col (photo by Dave)
Some of the best views of the day were on descent, taking the alternate route
Dave passes by the first "break" in the cliff. It did not provide a route down, unless free-falling is your thing.
Onto the second potential descent route
Looking back at Triple Divide and Norris
Still searching for the class 2 gully that leads back to the Triple Divide Pass trail (photo by Dave)
Dave arrives at the top of the gully
I'm lagging behind as usual (photo by Dave)
The valley below is very attractive
The gully doesn't look too bad from here, but it's pretty slick and steep in places (photo by Dave)
The gully we came down (photo by Dave)
Lots of side-sloping to get back to the main trail, but Dave found a good goat trail (photo by Dave)
Long but easy and, of course, super scenic trek back to the start (photo by Dave)
Couldn't resist another look at Razoredge Mountain
and some red argillite
The northwest side of Red Mountain
Dave takes the final few steps to end a long, thrilling, and amazing day out in Glacier National Park
The End
