Yoho Peak

Yoho Peak

August 19, 2009

Mountain height:         2760 m
Elevation gain:            1200 m
Ascent time:                6:35
Descent time:              4:20

Solo scramble.

The last time I did a summer Graeme Pole route (Mosquito Mountain), I spent half the time regretting I hadn’t waited for weekend so Mark could come along. That trip was unexpectedly awesome, having the type of scenery that Mark and I live for. Obviously my brain wasn’t functioning at a very high level when I repeated the error this summer. The introductory phrase, “The traverse of Yoho Peak is about as fine a one-day outing as you'll find in the Rockies” isn’t exactly open to interpretation. It’s abundantly clear that this is an excellent trip and it was!

However, I certainly wasn’t of that frame of mind for the first two and last two hours of the trip. The first two were a rather dull forest walk and I was so exhausted for the final two hours, they were simply hard to enjoy. What occurred between those two time frames was magical.

After spending a couple of hours with very limited views, the scenery very suddenly opened up, upon entering the Yoho Valley. Particularly interesting were the variety of rock colours and layers, several violent watercourses running down the valley, a couple of very large, unknown peaks, and a flawless blue sky. From afar this scenery was impressive, but up close it was astounding. The waterfalls were especially breath-taking. In fact, I almost decided to forgo an ascent of Yoho and just spend the day exploring this amazing valley. It would have been totally worth the time and effort.

But, so was the Yoho ascent. Ascending alongside two of the waterfalls to gain the hanging valley was fantastic and the views of several big peaks continued to improve. It wasn’t until I unexpectedly saw Mount Thompson and Portal Peak to the northwest that I was able to identify the previously “unknown” peaks as Mount Gordon and Mount Balfour. I had only a small section of the area map that didn’t show anything beyond Yoho Peak. The west views of the two peaks took on a completely different look than the standard views from the south and east.

More vibrantly coloured rock covered the hanging valley and as such, I decided to veer off the suggested route and check out a ridge to the east of Yoho. This ridge provided terrific views of the south section of the Wapta Icefield and another unique perspective – this time of Mount Collie to the north. I continued up to a “summit” at GR297155. Although a cairn marked the highpoint, it is really just the southeast end of a long ridge leading to Mount Collie. The summit panorama was spectacular, especially west, towards Mount des Poilus, and south towards The Presidents.

The traverse south to the summit of Yoho Peak was tedious, but easy. There, an equally impressive panorama was cause for many photos. For descent, I used Mr. Pole’s traverse route. Unable to determine where the correct scree slope to the west he mentions was, I just descended to the col between Yoho and its southern outlier and then followed easy slopes into Waterfall Valley. More beautiful scenery and phenomenal colours awaited in the valley. I then made a quick visit to Twin Falls viewpoint (a must if you are in the area) and finished the descent on the excellent trail system in the area.

I couldn’t have said it better myself, “As fine a one-day outing as you'll find in the Rockies!”

Finally out of the forest