Mount Baldy XV - West Peak
via Northwest Ridge
May
29, 2016
Mountain height: 2125 m
Elevation gain: 750 m
Ascent time: 2:30
Descent time: 1:05
Solo scramble.
Rumor is that there’s an awesome scramble route
to the summit of Mount Baldy’s West Peak, via the northwest gully and ridge.
The rumor is correct, however I’m not sure I would recommend this route to
everyone. It is more difficult and far more committing than the West Ridge of
West Baldy. I did the route wearing approach shoes and I’m darn glad I
did!
I started by hiking towards Baldy Crag, eventually
taking a right turn up small dry drainage. The general route would be to follow
this drainage and then the northwest ridge all the way to the summit. Things got serious pretty quickly. The
first section of climbing was just that – climbing, not scrambling. I was able
to circumvent this step on the right side, before returning to the drainage.
At this point, I was treated to a long section of
super fun hands-on scrambling up solid rock. However, higher up there was one
section of water worn rock that definitely pushed my scrambling skills to their
max – downclimbing this step would have been exhilarating to say the least.
About halfway up, the drainage gave way to
scree and rubble slopes to the right and the narrow northwest ridge to the left, both going
towards the summit. My nerves were a little frazzled by then and so I chose
the tedious rubble over the more aesthetic but exposed route. Eventually, I intercepted
the upper ridge and scrambled easily to the summit.
For descent, I downclimbed the east side of the
west peak to the col between West and South and then descended the easy drainage
between them.
A challenging (perhaps too challenging!) and fun route - as stated, not for everyone.
Leaving the Baldy Crag trail
Approaching the start of some serious scrambling
Super fun terrain to ascend
A section of easier terrain
Back to the cool, friction slabs
Getting steeper. The crux is near the top, where the drainage becomes water-worn and much smoother, with smaller hand-holds.
Mount Kidd
Lorette, Skogan, Mary Barclay's Mountain, and McGillivray lie to the west
The route ahead. After continuing up a bit, I traversed onto the scree slopes in the centre
At the bottom of a narrow section of ridge and an unseen downclimb. I traversed to the right here.
Onto those tedious (but not exposed) slopes
The south end of Barrier Lake
Mount Fable at the left
Baldy's South Peak
Where the Kananaskis River empties into Barrier Lake
At the top of the West Ridge route
More of Barrier Lake
The summit
Looking down the bypass route I took with Kirk and Mitch
The true (North) summit of Mount Baldy
Summit cairn and the view to the southwest. Midnight Peak at the left.
Descending the east side of the West Peak
Braids of the Kananaskis River
Heading down the mercifully easy drainage between the peaks after a difficult ascent
The End
LOG