Turtle Mountain

Turtle Mountain – February 26, 2005

Mountain height:      2,209 m (7,245 ft)
Elevation gain:         880 m
Ascent time:             3:30
Descent time:           2:25

Scrambling with Mark, Holland, and Toan.

Turtle Mountain is a fantastic scramble, boasting a unique form of rock scenery you are unlikely to find anywhere else. It’s, or course, unfortunate that the natural disaster of 1903 that is responsible for the great scenery, also cost more than 70 people their lives. While the magnitude of the rockslide is impressive as seen from Highway 3, a far superior view of the devastation waits near the top of the mountain.

We set out shortly after 9 am on a beautifully clear and warm day. Unfortunately, Toan began to tire a little (his first scramble), and so we split up into two groups: Mark and I went ahead and Toan and Holland followed. We hoped to meet somewhere on the upper ridge.

Mark and I quickly made our way up to the ridge, where we enjoyed terrific views of Crowsnest Mountain, The Seven Sisters, Mount Tecumseh, and numerous snow-covered, shapely peaks to the south. Higher up, the summit block appeared in the distance – another impressive sight, as a fair amount of snow remained on the ascent route and the decimated north face of the mountain.

The really interesting scenery started when we reached the false summit. From that point, the long and wide notch between the false and true summit, revealed the absolutely enormous size of the section of rock that was no longer part of the mountain. A short descent and we were amongst some of the most astounding rock scenery we’ve ever seen: huge pinnacles, gaping fissures, large overhanging outcroppings – add a good dose of snow and you have some absolutely stunning scenery. Needless to say, however, the snow, often covering and hiding deep fissures in the rock, made the terrain quite treacherous. We were very careful to avoid stepping on snow-covered sections, as it was sometimes impossible to ascertain what was underneath. Some of the fissures were well over 10 metres deep and falling into one would have been most unpleasant! We spent quite a while exploring the fascinating features of the notch, although we were limited to certain sections – snow cover made others inaccessible. Certainly, we will return in the summer to explore more of the incredible terrain.

A short, easy scramble followed and brought us quickly to the summit and a splendid panorama. Again, the peaks and landscape to the south and southeast really stole the show, although a very tall peak to the left of Mount Tecumseh, that I though might be 11,000er Mount Harrison, certainly grabbed our attention also. A second slightly higher summit was only 5-10 minutes away and so we carefully traversed the snow-covered ridge, avoiding more cracks in the rock. After a very pleasant summit stay, highlighted by Mark slipping and wiping out while making a short movie with his digital camera, we started down. Unfortunately, we did not run into Holland and Toan along the way. We later found out, they had made it up to the ridge, continued on for a while and then decided to save the summit for another day. The bright side was that they were an hour ahead of us and when we arrived at the car, there was a bucket of KFC waiting for us – protein and huge amounts of grease – a great end to a great day!