Angel Wing
September 22, 2019
Mountain height: 2265 m
Elevation gain: 762 m
Ascent time: 4:30
Descent time: 3:35
Scrambling with Raff.
The day after being reminded of my “love/not so much love” relationship
with Crowsnest, I found myself in Glacier National Park, Montana, being
reminded of my “love/love” relationship with Glacier, Waterton and The Castle.
The variety of scenery, rock, and colours is simply staggering, especially in
Glacier, and so even on less than stellar weather days, there are amazing features
and scenes to behold at every turn.
Raff and I set off to ascend Mount Grinnell, via the south face, as
described by Gordon Edwards. Unfortunately, we arrived in the Many Glaciers area to find most
of the big peaks thoroughly socked in. Only the far east end of Mount Grinnell
(Grinnell Point) was clear. Hoping the early morning clouds would soon
dissipate, we decided to go for the Mount anyway, not the Point. This situation
appeared to be eerily similar to the events 24 hours earlier on Andy Good Peak.
The ascent route starts by following the very popular
Grinnell Glacier trail to Upper Grinnell Lake; a trail I can only describe as
absolutely stunning! (definitely my new favourite trail in Glacier for the time
being).
The weather was a different story. Not only did
the clouds refuse to lift, they actually descended to an even lower level, completely
engulfing all the mountains around us (also eerily similar to Andy Good II)
except one. We didn’t need to discuss the
situation for very long. Grinnell was out of the question. Luckily the clouds
seemed to have stalled over the summit of Mount Gould, leaving its eastern
outlier, commonly known as Angel Wing, in almost full sunshine. This would become our
new objective.
More superb terrain separated Upper Grinnell
Lake and the col between Gould and Angel Wing. In fact, I could have spent the
entire day just exploring the lake and surrounding area – it was that good! As
was the super easy ascent of Angel Wing and its summit view. Low cloud continued
to persist to the west, however, the view to the east was outstanding – several
lakes stretching out down the valley, with Mount Grinnell on one side and Allen
Mountain on the other. Eventually, other familiar peaks did emerge from the
clouds, but Gould, as one of the highest mountains in the area, insisted on
staying hidden.
With slightly improving weather conditions, the
descent took a little longer than expected, but only because we wanted to stop
to enjoy the outrageously beautiful scenery.
An outstanding day in the National Park that
never seems to run out of fantastic surprises!
Grinnell Point is a pretty spectacular summit itself
The weather looked good as we made our way around Swiftcurrent Lake
It didn't look so good over Mount Gould once we arrived at Lake Josephine
Angel Wing in front and cloud-covered Mount Gould behind
Grinnell Lake below Angel Wing
A couple of Rams atop a colourful rock band
At least we are on a red argillite trail now
Light rays on Grinnell Lake
One of the more interesting sections of the incredibly interesting Grinnell Lake Trail
Another cool section
Light rays on Raff. Angel Wing at the right.
The standard colourful rock layers in Glacier
A very white mountain goat
He/she is not alone. Two kids and their parents?
They slowly walked along the trail in front of us
..for quite a distance (photo by Raff)
Last look at the family before they finally left the trail
Upper Grinnell Lake and the low cloud still hanging over Mount Gould
Angel Wing at the left
The rock around the lake was fantastic
A couple of tiny icebergs caught our attention
Here's one
Here's the other (photo by Raff)
The lake outlet was stunning
Raff scrambles down to cross another section of the outlet
Beautiful staircase of rock and water
Looking back to the lake, while heading to the col
The Grinnell Glacier is quite heavily crevassed
The gentle ascent slopes of Angel Wing
Raff ascends the gentle slopes
Raff is a few metres away from the summit cairn
The summit of Grinnell makes a very brief appearance
Raff explores the east ridge of Angel
Looking down on Grinnell Lake. Lake Josephine father down the valley.
My turn to explore the east ridge. Raff is at the summit. The east face of Angel Wing was very impressive from this angle.
As well as the long ridge of Grinnell, Henkel and Altyn can just be seen to the northeast
I'm at the end of the ridge (photo by Raff)
Raff is not getting too close to the edge, as the wind was fairly gusty
Two happy hikers at the top
The small icebergs in the lake seem to be originating from the far west end
Back at one of the numerous tarns below the lake. The clouds finally lift from a few sections of the Garden Wall
After taking a little detour on descent, we had to backtrack to get on the trail again
More backtracking, but who cares when the scenery is this good
More great rock and water scenery on return
Same as above (photo by Raff)
There were many pools of red tinted water - not red argillite, but caused by a red algae on the rocks
What am I standing on? (photo by Raff)
Some super cool rock, that's what!
....with Angel Wing
Another red pool and Angel Wing
The Garden Wall again, but still no Gould
The red pools were a nice contrast with the turquoise, glacial lake
Back on the trail
Scenes of the Grinnell Glacier Trail
On ascent, there was not a drop of water flowing down the rock by Raff
Red argillite puts a smile on everyone's face!
Allen Mountain above Lake Josephine
Peaceful Swiftcurrent Lake
The End
