Wasootch Peak IV


July 27, 2017

Mountain height: 2352 m
Elevation gain:    900 m
Ascent time:        2:45

Descent time:     2:30
 
Solo scramble.
The objective of my 4th trip up Wasootch Peak was to see if there was a decent route up the mountain from the northwest side. Years ago Mark and I had completed a very interesting route from Wasootch Creek parking lot (northeast) and recently we had done the first part of this new route on a failed ascent of Greg Cornell’s 5.6 climbing route, “Ivana Humpaless”.
 
Initially I wanted to see if the actual northwest ridge would work, however, I found the terrain and rock in the drainage to be so interesting that staying in the drainage seemed like a great idea and it was.  Upon gaining the ridge I completed the ascent via the east ridge, as Mark and I had done years ago.
 
After admiring the slightly hazy but always satisfying summit view, I decided to attempt to downclimb the northwest ridge – perhaps an illogical decision given that upclimbing is always easier than downclimbing, but retreating back up the way came was an option. The most surprising feature of this descent route was the amazing quality of the rock, making the downclimbing that much easier and enjoyable. There were a couple of difficult spots, route-finding challenges and some gritty exposure for one step, but in general the descent was very enjoyable.
 
At treeline, I simply continued down the ridge, hoping to find a reasonable route through the thick forest. A few animal trails helped along the way, but I found it to be a tedious, if direct route back to the start.
 
A surprisingly enjoyable day and interesting route up an old favourite. 


The lower part of the drainage, with the summit in the distance to the right



Looking back at Mount Lorette



The northwest ridge (my original intention) gets some Sun



Some of the cool rock in the draunage



More



On the north ridge of Wasootch



Wasootch Tower - good times!!



The east ridge goes directly to the summit of the northwest ridge










The single obstacle along the ridge is circumvented on the left side



The true summit of Wasootch Peak






Kananaskis Village and Mount Kidd



Looking down the ascent route



Summit pano to the west



Summit pano to the south



Looking to the true summit of Wasootch







A very low flying helicopter



Looking up the northwest ridge after downclimbing it. Great rock to scramble down!



The route from the parking area
 

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