Bellevue Hill III
November 24, 2018
Mountain height: 2116 m
Elevation gain: 775 m
Ascent time:
2:25
Descent time: 1:35
Solo scramble.
A recent fantastic trip up the
“runt” of The Castle (Prairie Bluff VII), prompted me to look into another
ascent of the “runt” of Waterton – Bellevue Hill – another unjustly neglected,
lowly, front range peak that is great “bang for your buck”.
The goal was to attempt an ascent
of Bellevue’s northeast ridge, starting from the Horseshoe Basin trailhead, as
opposed to the start from Red Rock Canyon Road. A previous attempt of this
route had been thwarted by a prescribed burn before we even got out of the car
(Bellevue II and Sonny’s report). Subsequently,
the Kenow fire that same year had prompted (lots of “prompting” going on here!)
Parks Canada to close the entire area – until now. With the closure signs
removed I was super happy to attempt the route and also to check out some of
the results of the fire that pretty much obliterated Waterton National Park
(obliterated in the best sense of the word, as the fire was naturally occurring
and probably long overdue).
My only regret for the day was a
late start, due to a previous commitment. It would have been great to ascend
the ridge when the Sun was in the eastern part of the sky. Nevertheless, the
route went without a hitch, was replete with interestingly stark, early winter
views, and offered many perspectives of the area that I had never experienced.
I have no doubt that I’ll someday
repeat this route with an earlier start time and perhaps in late spring when there
is more green and less brown.
Bellevue Hill (left) and Rogan Peak (right)
The seasonal tarn sometimes comes all the way up to the fence. It's completely dried up at this point.
Many of trees had lost their bark and were stripped down to an almost pure white
The approach is now beautifully stark
Northeast ridge of Bellevue directly ahead
In the shadow of the mountain itself, but Lakeview Ridge was getting plenty of Sun
Typical ascent grades on the lower slopes. Not too steep and not too gentle.
The Lower Waterton Lake makes an appearance at the left
Even though these slopes are fully treed, they felt very barren - again, in a good way
Almost at the first highpoint
Rogan Peak (left) and Lakeview Ridge again
The entire horseshoe route of Lakeview Ridge
Galwey and Rogan, through the trees
One interesting aspect of hiking out of the Sun was that everything seemed to have a blue tinge
Big cairn on the first highpoint. An enjoyable up and down ridgewalk now leads to the summit
A little rime on the trees
There was lots of burned ground and rocks up here, again contributing to the barren and stark nature of the trip
Looking back to the first highpoint
Possibly my favourite part of the trip - a frosty tree with sunlight illuminating the top of it
Yep - same tree!
The first highpoint doesn't look so high anymore
Classic Waterton front range views - no foothills, right to prairies
There was some spectacular red argillite en route to the summit,
but looked somewhat lacklustre without the Sun shining on it
At least the Sun was shining on this beaut!
Still liking the blue tinge even though the red rock is not popping out
Summit cairn
Summit view towards the Waterton Lakes
Same as above
Racing down the mountain to beat the setting Sun.
The End
