"Whitney Ridge"
February 29, 2020
Mountain height: 2004 m
Elevation gain: 590 m
Roundtrip time: 5:20
Snowshoeing with Dave, Brad, and Aaron.
What a treat to be back in the hills with Dave McMurray, after his
January surgery. And to make a great situation even better, what better than to
have Brad Wolcott and Aaron Eyjolfson join us for the day! The four of us had a
great time on this terrific and unknown route, ingeniously conceived by Dave.
The objective of the day of was one of the highpoints on the long ridge
between “Whitney Creek Mountain” and Victoria Peak. A gas road approach allowed
us to cover most of the horizontal distance of the trip with great ease. Along
the way I had some great conversation with Brad, who knows more about the
Southern Alberta Rockies than the Southern Alberta Rockies know about
themselves, and Aaron, who has bravely worked
through a couple of serious injuries over the past year and is now back
in the saddle, hiking and scrambling (but not necessarily horse riding).
After leaving the gas road it didn’t take us long to figure out that the
ascent would be a snowshoe one. Thankfully, at this point, two things seemed to
be going in my favour: 1. Dave’s axiom stating that trail-breaking duties go
from youngest to oldest (sometimes it’s good to be the old man of the group);
2. Aaron – Aaron is a big, muscular, young lad and his snowshoes were HUGE! Although
not the youngest of our quartet, Aaron immediately took on trail-breaking
duties and what a nice path that man put down for us!
When the terrain steepened it was time to take short shifts of trail-breaking
through the deep, unconsolidated snow. Which brings me to my third stroke of
good luck: Brad. Like Dave, Brad is a trail-breaking machine. His first shift
was far from short and led us up the bulk of the mountain and all the steepest
and most challenging terrain. By the time I took over (we had already decided
that “Thyroid-less Man” was absolved from leading for the day) the slopes were
gentle, with hard-packed snow – trail-breaking was a breeze!
Dave did lead the final section to the summit. Here, we were able to
take off our snowshoes and ascend the wind-blown slopes, while also being
pummeled by a surprisingly strong and bitterly cold wind. After taking in a
very cloudy, but pretty cool summit view, Brad carved out a good spot for us,
in the trees and on the lee-side of the ridge to take food break.
The descent was wickedly fast and easy. We managed to keep our snowshoes
affixed to our backpacks for all the elevation loss down to Whitney Creek –
only the trek alongside the creek required their use.
A super easy walk out and another round an excellent conversation with
my new friends ended a fantastic day out. Big thanks to Brad, Aaron, and Dave
for this wonderful day.
Click HERE
to see Dave’s fantastic report.
Gearing up at the start of the gas road (photo by Dave)
Wish all approaches were this easy! (photo by Dave)
Brad looks over to Whitney Creek Mountain (photo by Dave)
Check out the size of Aaron's snowshoes (right)! (photo by Dave)
Snowshoe time (photo by Dave)
Brad is the only snowshoer I know who smokes a pipe while snowshoeing (photo by Dave)
And he wears it very well (photo by Dave)
Dave found flagging and a trap-line near Whitney Creek (photo by Dave)
Aaron leads the way (photo by Dave)
The terrain is getting steeper
Victoria Peak and it's northwest ridge. Looking forward to exploring that ridge in the future (photo by Aaron)
Aaron checks out the view of Prairie Bluff and its many outliers (photo by Dave)
Brad leads the group up a steep section (photo by Dave)
Same as above (photo by Dave)
Happy because we are onto less steep slopes with hard snow (photo by Dave)
Close-up of Victoria Peak's north side
Aaron makes his way past the toughest part (just below him).
His snowshoes didn't have heel lifts or crampons and so the ascent was far more difficult.
Someone deserves a rest (photo by Dave)
Dave takes the lead
I stayed on the snow (photo by Dave)
Brad and Aaron make their way up the snowy ridge
Without the added weight of his thyroid, Dave arrived at the top long before the rest of us
The sloths follow (photo by Dave)
The continuation of the ridge in a southwest direction looked inviting,
but not on this day because of the high winds and very cold temperatures
Summit view towards Mount Gladstone (photo by Aaron)
Happy summit trio (photo by Dave)
Dave checks out the route towards Victoria Peak (photo by Aaron)
Great selfie by Aaron! (photo by Aaron)
Brad scopes out a place below the ridge to get reprieve from the wind
Looking up at Dave and Aaron from our little shelter
Lunch time (photo by Dave)
The ridge to the north also looks very inviting
Aaron crawls out from the shelter
One more summit pose for Dave. Brad and Aaron are "gettin' outta' Dodge". It was freezing up there!
Aaron appears to have lost a leg (photo by Dave)
The deep snow got it
Super easy travel down the ridge
The wind-hammered snow was very supportive (photo by Dave)
Castle Peak and Windsor Mountain make a very brief appearance
Back down at Whitney Creek, Brad lights up his pipe (photo by Aaron)
Almost back to the car
Dave shows us his "slit-throat" scar
The End
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