Woody VI


 
April 25, 2020
 
Mountain height: 2037 m      
Elevation gain:    530 m
Round-trip time:  5 hours
 
Solo scramble.
 
I didn’t expect the floodgates of “fantastic new routes” to open when last year Dave McMurray and I decided to ascend all the eastern Castle outliers as winter or shoulder season trips. But they did! It’s simply shocking how many different and completely unique ways there are up each of these little gems. The day’s exploration around the south side of the outliers of Mount Drywood was no exception.
 
The ascent started with the usual hike up a gas road. Having approached the outlier from two different gas roads last year, I decided that the upper gas road was a preferable approach to the lower one. After gaining some elevation up the east side of the outlier, I began a long (time-wise, not in terms in distance) but amazing traverse around the peak. The lengthy time can be attributed not to difficulty of travel, but to the outrageous rock scenery throughout. As well, as I couldn’t resist exploring a couple of lines up through the fantastic rock. I backed down from each route, as I had vowed to go around the entire face before starting upslope.
 
Eventually, the wall of rock ended and an easy route up the south side of the outlier presented itself. The remainder of the trip unfolded much the same as my previous visits. With almost perfect weather, the red argillite section before “Stumpy” was outstanding and I did take a slightly different route from the summit of “Woody” back to the start.
 
An outrageously beautiful trip – with at least two more potential routes up this trio of minor highpoints around the southeast side of the mountain, Woody VII and VIII are forgone conclusions.


Some elk and Mount Dungarvan


Rogan Peak - a photo favourite



Water reflections are a rarity in southern Alberta, because of the wind. Better stop to enjoy when one occurs!
Dungarvan, Cloudy Ridge Junior, Cloudy Ridge, Cloudowan, Yarrow Ridge, Mount Yarrow, Mount Roche, and The Raptor provide a decent background.



More wildlife below The Eaglet


Drywood Mountain and the objective at the right. The route I took traversed the south side and then ascended from left to right.



Bigger view of Drywood, including the northeast ridge - a very enjoyable route in itself.



Hiking the gas road once again



The false summit of Drywood Mountain



Two previous ascents have gone up the outlier here, near the interesting rock band  in the centre
 


Looking over to the peaks of a few of my favoruites ascents of all time:
Bakery Peak
The Muffin
 


Approaching one of the coolest the rock bands on the mountain


A bunch of photos to prove it:



















Another glimpse of The Muffin and The Croissant




Moving one to the next cool rock band



...and the next



...and the next



...and the next









Took a short detour up this gully to check out a potential route for future ascents



Amazing rock en route












Definitely looks good for a route up









There was a weakness up through the next set of rock bands too



This one



And of course beautiful rock all the way up












The East End of Loaf Mountain



Love the blocky rock!




...and the green argillite



Turning the corner to a view of Drywood Mountain's main summit



A better with much of the northeast ridge visible






More views of Loaf's Mountain's north side. The south side has tons of amazing ascent routes.



Back to Woody and a little detour to check a few dead trees and layered rock



Tried to traverse this section to gain the ridge, but it became quite exposed and snowy around the corner



But the trees were very cool






Backing up to gain the ridge



No shortage of great rock anywhere on this outlier









The distant, true summit of Loaf finally makes an appearance
 





A bird above



Icarus??



Continuing to be stunned by the great rock and lichens



The bulk of Drywood's east side and "Stumpy" to the right



Almost all of Loaf is now visible, as well as Mount Roche behind



Very random and unusually coloured rock at the lower right



Close-up of the light turquoise rock



Just when you thought the great rock scenery was over, along comes a huge band of red argillite!
 




















Very snowy from here to the summit



Spoke too soon - more argillite to come






Summit view of Drywood from "Stumpy"



The traverse to "Barky" and Pincher Ridge



Close-up



The false summit Drywood's northeast ridge looks quite impressive from here



The traverse, with "Barky" and "Woody" at the right



Looking back at Stumpy






Summit view from Barky



False summit and true summit



Looking over to Woody



Prairie Bluff



Summit view from Woody









The Woody cairn



Victoria Peak pokes out from behind Pincher Ridge



Can't get enough of the view back to Drywood



Last look before the descent



Heading down, but looking back





Perfect snow for an easy descent



Looking down the descent route. The usual route is the drainage, just visible at the far right.



Another section of good snow



Came down the right side in the photo



Parting look. Went up the left side, came down the right.

The End

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