Bellevue Hill VIII
March 20, 2021
Mountain height: 2116 m
Elevation gain: approximately
1200 m
Ascent time: 5:00
Descent
time: 2:40
Scrambling with Mark, Dan, and Zac.
It’s hardly surprising that my Bellevue Hill
ascents are approaching double digits. Like Prairie Bluff, its lowly,
front-range, seemingly boring counterpart farther north, Bellevue Hill is
teeming with interesting routes to its summit from pretty much every side of
the mountain. Today’s goal was to check out the ultimate route up the Hill –
the infamous centre gully on its southeast face. I had attempted the route solo
in 2016 but backed down when the terrain became quite serious.
With three eager scrambling partners, this
seemed like as good a time as any to give it another go. The fourth in our
little entourage was none other than Dan’s brother, Zac Carreiro. We had just
met Zac and with limited mountain experience we were impressed with his desire
to join us on this very experimental and unknown route (perhaps we did mislead
him a wee bit in advertising it as an advanced hike!)
The other reason we picked this objective was
weather related. Slated to be one of those classic Waterton days – very cloudy
to the west, but sunny in the front-ranges and windy everywhere – we were
confident that this route would shield us from the wind and expose us to the
maximum amount of sunshine. On that count – mission accomplished; on several
other counts – the jury is still out!
After a very pleasant 3.5 km walk to the base
of the mountain, highlights of which were watching the massive Waterton elk
herd move across the land, a less massive but still big group of white-tailed
deer doing the same, and trying to convince Zac that we weren’t crazy in
attempting to climb what appears to be a near vertical gully bisecting the
mountain, we started up towards that gully. As predicted, the colourful layers
of rock were absolutely stunning – reason enough to visit this magical side of the Hill.
Unfortunately, we soon encountered steep ice
in the gully. Between us we had 4 ice axes, 2 sets of crampons, and 2 sets of
micro-spikes. The crampons would have been perfect but the micro-spikes were no
match for this kind of terrain. Finding a way around this obstacle proved to be
an exercise in futility and eventually we had to abandon the gully. The back-up
plan was to try the next gully to the north. From a distance it appeared to be
very similar in nature to the centre gully, but shorter and with less snow and
ice. A wonderfully scenic traverse over to that gully ensued and then up we
went, Mark taking the lead for the first section and Dan for the second.
This too was short-lived, even steeper ice
soon blocking the way up. Dan was able to lead us around this obstacle and back
into the gully, but via increasingly challenging and exposed terrain. We then
stemmed our way up the narrow gully until an impasse was reached. Here, Dan
scrambled up to the right on very steep, exposed, and most importantly loose
terrain – definitely the high end of scrambling. Zac’s turn to go up, but when
a huge handhold he was using gave way and went crashing down the mountain, we
decided that having a rope as a back-up would be prudent. With a solid tree
anchor Dan was able to send a rope down to us. We then all ascended the sketchy
step, just having the rope as a fail-safe. Above the step, much easier terrain
led to the ridge, where we took a well-deserved food and "calm the %$#@ down" break.
Mark and I were severely impressed with the Carreiro
brothers – Dan for leading the gully and the very difficult step out of the it (he’s
probably the most advanced scrambler I know) and Zac for tackling the same
terrain; this “advanced hike” had quickly graduated into an advanced and
serious scramble and up to this point Zac had never completely even an easy
scramble! Well done, boys!
Of course, upon achieving the south ridge of
Bellevue, the remainder of the trip is a cakewalk - a fact that we were all super happy about! 
It’s also an extremely scenic cakewalk with tons of amazing rock. I’m
still dumbfounded that I once characterized this part of the trip as being
“anti-climatic” – it is anything but!
Expectedly, the wind-free part of the
excursion was done at this point and we were forced to enjoy mild to
bone-chilling winds of up to 80 km/h for the rest of the ascent. A short but
somewhat comedic summit stay ensued, recalling with laughter some of the more
dire moments in the gully.
Though there are faster routes off the
mountain (Bellevue IV), we chose to return the same way we came, obviously avoiding
the very difficult gully we had ascended by going straight down the easy south
ridge. Surprisingly, the weather took a real turn for the worse about hallway
down. A system was quickly moving in. Thankfully, our descent route allowed for
a fast escape off the mountain before things got out of hand. They didn’t but
walking back along the road to the cars was interesting in itself, clouds
completely engulfing the mountain we had just ascended.
Awesome trip! I’d say we got the best (and
perhaps worst, depending on your perspective) of everything on this trip: a
little snow and ice, fun, easy scrambling followed by steep, exposed,
white-knuckled scrambling, incredible rock scenery throughout, relaxing hiking,
great weather and not so great weather, and of course great companionship,
camaraderie and conversation throughout. Huge shout out to Dan and Zac for
tackling this interesting and very challenging route.
Off we go
A small part of the elk herd
Bellevue Hill dead ahead
Three of us casually walk by a bear on the side of the road. He/she didn't move a muscle!
The two gullies can be seen clearly here. We tried the one on the left first and then ended up ascending the one on the right.
Mount Crandell and the interesting route we took on the left side in 2019
A steep grind up to the centre gully
Almost there
Dan and I survey the route ahead
The owner of the house shows up (photo by Zac)
Zac arrives at the bottom of the gully. The owner causally saunters by without giving us a second glance.
The rest of the family arrives
Mark checks out another route
In the end we just went straight up the middle. The terrain I'm on is scree covered ice, and provided a lot of friction.
Up come the troops
Mark almost at the ice that stopped progress up the centre gully
The traverse to the second gully begins
Amazing rock all around us
Vimy Peak behind Dan and Zac
Slippery scree on hard dirt - not the best for traversing, but it could have been worse
Still traversing
More gorgeous rock
...and again
The mouth of the second gully
The prairies and Dan at the right checking out the route
Mark leads us up gully #2.....
...then waits for us when he reaches the ice at the left
The ice in this gully was steeper than the first gully. Mark, at the right, tries to find a way around the ice.
Same as above. No luck here.
He ended up traversing a ledge along this face
Dan and I follow
Mark checks out the increasingly exposed terrain up the rock face
Dan, always cool, calm, and collected is about to take the lead for the remainder of the ascent to the ridge
Up he goes
Dan finds a route up and then back into the drainage
Zac heads up to join Dan
Mark follows
Traversing down and back into the drainage
An easy section of the gully before it narrows and gets much steeper
Still some beautiful ice remaining in the gully
And still on easy terrain
Narrower and steeper
Dan and Zac expertly stemming the gully - that's fairly challenging terrain for someone's first scramble!
Above the stemming section and the exposed rock face, the other brothers look down what we just came up
(with a marked measure of relief!) (photo by Dan)
Thankfully on much easier terrain
Lots of fun, hands-on scrambling above the nail-biting, hands-on scrambling!
And of course, cool, colourful rock everywhere
Zac and Mark take in the scenery before another short traverse to get around more steep stuff (photo by Dan)
The ridge is in sight and everyone is all smiles!
Another run in with the owners
Watching them negotiate these exposed ledges with ease made us all very envious!
The Carreiro brothers. No comment on what Zac is doing at the left, but we did give him some privacy!
Dan is eager to get to the ridge
Dan at the ridge, Mark and Zac follow
I was mesmerized by this tree and, as usual, fell way behind
The well-earned food break. After ascending that gully I was wishing I had brought Valium instead of a cheese sandwich.
On the move again
Mark finds a red argillite perch
Close-up
Three relieved scramblers and three cool mountains: left to right: Mount Crandell, Ruby Ridge, and Mount Blakiston
Charlie's Angels???
Onward and upward
Approaching one of the coolest rock bands on the mountain, at the right. We spent some time there on Bellevue VII.
The clearly defined layers of exposed rock are everywhere on this ridge
As are numerous other interesting examples of amazing rock
Even the sparse, yellow vegetation is attractive here
The little snow we encountered was near the false summit
Mark and Dan arrived at the false summit first
The stragglers
Brief and minor celebration at the false summit
Off to the true summit
Dan is on a tear and keen to finish this Bad Boy off!
I'm just content to take endless photos of red (burgundy) argillite!
Case in point
Just a few hundred metres to go, but we were all getting battered by the wind at this point
Staying a little bit below the ridge provided a small measure of shelter from the wind and of
course was home to cool rock and the leftovers of the Kenow fire
Aesthetic Mount Galwey
Dan waits for us in a sheltered area just before the summit. Mark is already there.
Summit view includes Ruby, Blakiston, Galwey and Rogan Peak at the far right
Blakiston is particularity impressive
With Dan
Dan is getting lots of photo love!
Horseshoe-shaped Lakeview Ridge
The Carreiro's bond at the summit cairn
Dan's reflective goggles were quite the hit for selfies
Ethnic harmony - two Portuguese guys, half an English guy, and half a Sri Lankan guy are getting along fine at the top
Time to leave
Once again Dan takes the lead. The wind at this point was vicious.
Mark reascends the false summit. The clouds were starting to build to the west.
You know you are hiking with good guys when they stop and ask you to take a photo they can send to their Mum
Off the false summit and starting down the long but generally easy south ridge
Red argillite again. Who would have thought that hardened, oxidized mud would become the true love of my life!
Happy Together 1967 - what a great year!!
Continuing down
The same rock encounters, but the sky behind was clearer on descent
Love that rock at the right!
And back at the rock band I also really love
Dan hits a minor highpoint along the way
The weather still looks good behind us, but in front it is rapidly deteriorating
Last rock shot. After this photo we were highly motivated to get the heck down
Here it comes
Dan leads again, as clouds consume Crandell
The second crux of the day was avoiding the need to downclimb the scary retaining wall!
Snowy, but gratifying walk back to the vehicles. Bellevue Hill is right behind us.
Zac gets the last word for this trip, given his stellar performance
The End
LOG
