Wastach Mountain

Wastach Mountain

July 21, 2010

Mountain height: 2830 m
Elevation gain:    980 m
Ascent time:        3:40
Descent time:      2:30

Scrambling with Adrian.

A four year absence from the Moraine Lake area required a remedy. Looking on the Rambler’s website, I fortuitously came across this trip and it was exactly what I was looking for – relatively short, easy, and scenic.

I arrived at the Moraine Lake parking lot with a solo ascent in mind, as the usual “hike in a group of four” restriction was not in place. However, at the trailhead, a young man from Poland, heading to Larch Valley, asked me about the recommendation that you “hike in a group of four”. He asked if I wouldn’t mind some company to Larch Valley and I was more than happy to oblige.

The not-so-thrilling hike to the Eiffel Lake/Larch Valley junction was infinitely more interesting with Adrian’s company. He is going to be a doctor and was hiking around western Canada before doing an internship in Edmonton. His very interesting conversation made the hike go by very quickly – that and Adrian’s brisk hiking pace, which definitely contributed to my elevated heart rate (good thing there was a doctor in the house, just in case!)

At the junction Adrian decided to come along on the Wastach scramble, instead of continuing on to Larch Valley. Again, I welcomed his excellent company. The hike to Eiffel Lake started off without too much excitement, but soon the panorama towards mountains of the Valley of the Ten Peaks opened up, offering excellent views of these impressive peaks. Needless to say, Deltaform Mountain was the initial star of the show, turning that honour over to Hungabee Mountain later in the hike.

Our objective finally became visible as we approached the shallow, blue waters of Eiffel Lake. Cowering in the figurative shadow of Hungabee, the peak looked to be an easy ascent. We left the Eiffel Lake trail and made our way up to Wastach Pass. Though it was not necessary to go all the way to the Pass, both Adrian and I were curious about what was on the other side, so we hiked the extra few hundred metres. From the Pass the view down to Paradise Valley was very good, but it was guaranteed that the peak above the Pass would offer a much better vista.

After a short break we started up the boulder slopes of the east face of Wastach. Travel was generally easy, though a less steep route existed a short distance south. Being used to the joys of loose Rockies rubble, I was quite at home on the movable boulders, but for someone new to this kind of terrain, the ascent could be a little unnerving. Adrian, more of a hiker than a scrambler, did remarkably well on the tenuous terrain.

We ascended the slope separately, along slightly different lines here, to avoid knocking rocks down on each other. Throughout, views towards Eiffel Peak were wonderful, even more so when Pinnacle Mountain and Mount Temple joined the fray.

Soon we reached the top, where I congratulated Adrian for completing his first Rockies scramble. Although Adrian had done tons of hiking and mountains ascents in Europe, the 2830 metre stature of Wastach was his highest peak to date. We took a long break, enjoying awesome views of the aforementioned peaks, before starting down an easier (though equally loose) line back to the trail. The descent was tedious at times, but went without incident.

Hiking back to the car, a group stopped us to ask if we had seen the grizzly and two cubs around nearby Wenkchemna Pass. We hadn’t, but were not at all surprised upon returning to the trailhead, that the mandatory hiking restriction was now in place – talk about good timing!

An excellent trip with a very interesting and cool scrambling partner. Dziekuje, Adrian.

Mount Tuzo