Mount
Yamnuska V
January 11, 2004
Mountain height: 2,240 m
Elevation gain: 900 m
Ascent time: 3:25
Descent time: 2:30
Scrambling with
Mark.
A very leisurely, and scenic traverse of Mount Yamnuska,
in beautiful and surprisingly mild weather conditions. Once again, we chose to
do the loop route, but in reverse (ascent – west side; descent – east side).
I’m sure it’s a little faster to ascent via the east side and descend via the
west side, as the scree slope used on the west side face is very easy to
descend, but quite tedious to ascend. Like many of our recent trips, we were
lucky to have clear skies, and as the sun rose on the mountain face, we were
treated to some beautiful colours of rock and sky.
Upon reaching
the back of the mountain, we decided to stay right on the ridge (edge) as much
as possible. You really get your “best bang for your buck” by doing so, as
there are many terrific views of Yamnuska’s impressive 400 metre cliff face.
The ascent was easy and scenic throughout and there was very little snow.
For the descent
we continued down towards the east side. At the crux, we traversed the narrow
ledge using the wire cable placed there. The cable made the traverse very easy,
but I certainly wouldn’t have chosen that route had it not been there. Narrow
is an understatement – the ledge is almost non-existent in a couple of places!
The remainder
of the descent was again very scenic and enjoyable, marred only by some
graffiti on the rock at the east end (the complete stupidity of some people
never ceases to dismay me!). We also ran into seven people on descent – that’s
more humans than we’ve seen on our last 10 trips combined! Overall, a great
winter trip in not-so-wintery conditions.
Passing a frozen waterfall en route to the west side of the mountain
At the incredibly scenic west side
A little off-route exploration
Looking up to the summit and down the insanely steep south face
Mark negotiates a very narrow ledge. Thankfully a wire cable has been placed for safety.
The CMC valley to the north
Great photo-op location
Views along the south face are impressive from the east end too