GR380492 and GR385487

Unnamed at GR380492 and GR385487 (south of Mount Baldy South) – February 18, 2006

Mountain height:                                   2,348 m (7,701 feet) and 2,342 m (7,682 feet) respectively
Elevation gain:                                      1 ,190 m total
Ascent time to GR380492:                  2:45
Traverse time to GR385487:               1:00
Descent time from GR385487 to car: 3:15

Solo scramble.

The absolute best thing about the mountains is that one week you can experience spectacular visual wonders while ascending a relatively significant mountain, like Mount Olive, in the grandeur surroundings of the Wapta Icefield, and then the following week you can get an equally mesmerizing and gratifying experience while ascending a runt-of-a-mountain, like GR385487, in (many would say) the far less grandeur surroundings of the Kananaskis Front Ranges.

GR380492 lies south of the south peak of Mount Baldy and is usually accessed via Baldy Pass. Having completed that rather mundane route several years, I choose instead an ascent route via the west ridge, as suggested by Gillean Daffern as an alternate descent and described by Bob Spirko and recommended by another friend. I’m not sure if in fact I followed Bob’s route, however, it really was a “no-brainer” – leave Baldy Pass Trail as soon as possible, gain the west ridge, and up you go to the summit.

As predicted by the forecasters, the weather was fairly miserable and I fully expected the 60% chance of snow to come to fruition. I was therefore in no hurry and plodded lazily up the treed ridge to the first highpoint. From there, it was an easy and interesting ascent to the summit – definitely a more enjoyable route, in my opinion, than the one via Baldy Pass.

Just before I reached the summit, a slither of blue sky appeared to the north and I hoped it would make its way over. I was in luck – not only did it come over, but it brought friends and within 15 minutes, the entire sky was clear (I guess the other 40% of the forecast called for totally clear skies!). The dramatic change and contrast in the scenery, as the wall of blue slowly enveloped everything to the south was thoroughly breath-taking. I was also stunned by the fantastic summit panorama, in genera,l and couldn’t remember for the life of me why I hadn’t enjoyed it the first time – probably a great deal to do with the newly fallen layer of snow that simply brought everything to life, and the fact that since that early trip, I had visited the summits of a great many of the surrounding peaks.

Most intriguing in the summit view was the unnamed peak to the southeast. It’s beautifully curved ridge, with a steep drop-off on the east side was simply too much to resist and after a brief summit stay I started down towards it. This was by far the highlight of the day. The ridge was stunning, prompting innumerable photo opportunities – in fact, I actually took almost twice as many photos as I had on our fantastic ascent of Mount Olive, a week earlier (a fact that I’m sure will surprise Raff, Jason, and Vern, with whom I shared the Olive ascent – of course, I was lagging behind them all day, and had only their backsides as my primary view – no offense Boys!). And when all was said and done, I ended up doing more elevation gain than on Olive - another odd fact, given the large disparity in the height’s of the two mountains – big or small, the mountains of the Rockies are simply magnificent!

I stayed on the edge of the ridge throughout, although a couple of fairly exposed, snow-covered sections forced me to leave the ridge to circumvent them. Without the snow, I’m sure one could stay on the ridge throughout. The traverse took me an hour (at least 20 minutes of that stopping to take photos) and brought me to another terrific summit panorama. It was especially gratifying to see the entirety of the Mount McDougall massif, now that Mark and I have touched all the highpoints on that long ridge. It looked feasible to continue the trip in a southeast direction to another highpoint, northwest of Belmore Browne Peak, but I thought I’d save that for another day when Mark was with me (that’s code for: I was too tired and/or lazy!).

For the descent I tried in stay on the ridge a little more. This was cause for a couple of sections where I bum-shuffled across the narrow ridge. I managed all sections, but one, giving me a great excuse to return. At the low point, the fantastic weather compelled me to return to the summit of 380492, although side-sloping would have cut significant elevation gain and distance from the return trip. Again, the traverse was hampered (in a good way) by continued bewilderment at the amazing scenery and the required stops to capture it on film. From 380492 to car was fast, easy, and delightful in the warm, sunny weather.

An unexpectedly brilliant day out and a fantastic trip (clear skies and fresh snow - a must!).