Barrier Lake Lookout – April 14, 2006

Mountain height:       2,017 m (6,616 feet)
Elevation gain:           620 m
Roundtrip time:
         5:25

Hiking with Mark and Kerri.

My first trip to the Barrier Lake Lookout was almost four years ago to the day. With an “iffy” weather forecast and potentially strong Chinook winds, a return to the lookout seemed like a good idea and it was. Although the first four (out of five) kilometers were fairly mundane, the last stretch to the ridge and the view from the lookout made the trip more than worthwhile. Even more interesting was the exploration of a couple of very deep fissures on McConnell ridge and Mark doing some cool slab climbing, as his wife watched in horror.

Though my previous experience doing the loop route via Jewel Pass was not entirely a positive one (post-holing in knee-deep snow throughout), we choose to try it again, as there was less snow than on my trip, four years ago. Another good decision – the pleasant scenery was a fitting end to an easy and enjoyable day out.    

Mount Baldy and Barrier Lake from near McConnell Ridge

 

Approaching the ridge

 

The vertical cliffbands of McConnell Ridge

 

Exploring interesting terrain to gain the ridge

 

Peeking over the top of a rock pinnacle

 

Keri and I atop the pinnacle

 

Peering down a deep fissure on the ridge

 

On the ridge, with Mount Baldy and Barrier Lake behind 

 

Unnamed south of Mount Gillivray

 

Mark shows off his slab climbing prowess on vertical rock

 

Mark demonstrates amazing finger strength, as he supports his entire body weight with a couple of fingers 

 

A slightly more realistic view of the angle of the rock!

 

The first fissure

 

Looking down into the fissure

Mark in the fissure

 

At the end of the fissure looking out to the cliffbands

 

Looking up from inside the fissure; a great place to practice stemming (unless that chockstone on the right fell on your head!) 

 

Coming up out of the fissure

 

Exploring the second fissure

 

More interesting cliffband scenery

 

Mount Baldy and Barrier Lake

LOG