Cloudy Ridge II

  
 
September 6, 2020
 
Mountain height:  2570 m     
Elevation gain:    1100 m
Ascent time:        3:40
Descent time:      3:30  
 
Solo scramble.
 
Somewhat marred by frustrating weather conditions for our first ascent of Cloudy Ridge in 2006, a repeat ascent seemed in order. This trip too would be a chess match with the weather, a nasty system predicted to arrive in early afternoon. As such, I left the parking lot quite early and did the first part of the incredibly interesting Red Rock Canyon approach by headlamp.
 
Gaining elevation on Cloudy’s south ridge I was pleasantly surprised not only to see cloud-free skies but also haze-free – in striking contrast to our smoky ride up Bertha Peak, 24 hours earlier. Haze-free remained constant, cloud-free did not! Upon reaching the highpoint southeast of the summit I was treated to the always cool weather phenomena of watching clouds form in the valley below and then crawl up the mountain and over the ridge. Surprisingly, this weather system was pouring in from the east, contradicting the satellite photo that showed the system moving west to east.  
 

A surreal ridgewalk/scramble to the summit followed, where I took an extended break to soak in the terrific views and bizarre weather. Although I had toyed with the idea of trying to reach Cloudy Junior from the summit of Cloudy Ridge, whiteout conditions to the east put the kibosh on that plan. Eventually my luck with the weather ran out and clouds consumed the summit – it was definitely time to leave. The early afternoon weather system had decided that mid-morning would be good enough and here it was! 
 
Aside from a slightly disoriented ridgewalk back to the highpoint, because of very low visibility, the descent went smoothly, and I was back in Red Rock Creek in no time. Getting back to the parking lot was anything but expedient, the wonders of the canyon too much for my phone camera to resist!
 
Yet another outstanding repeat ascent in my favourite Canadian National Park. 


The start of a somewhat eerie headlamp approach up Red Rock Canyon



Daylight arrives



Crazy rock colours in the canyon



And awesome terrain to negotiate







The ascent ridge for Cloudy appears



But there's still more cool scenery in the canyon



On the south ridge of Cloudy. Anderson Peak enjoys the first rays of Sun.
 


No Sun for Dundy Peak yet, but it's still a great trip!



Mount Blakiston (left) and Anderson Peak - two fantastic mountains



Looking up the middle section of Cloudy's south ridge



Pretty good views already



The fierce east face of the upper section of Cloudy's south ridge
 


Unfortunately, this was the only section of real scrambling and even it can easily be avoided on the left side



Anderson Peak gets a lot of photo love from this vantage point



The limestone rock band that lines every peak in the area. It provides all degrees of challenge, from none (this peak) to significant (Dundy Peak)



Sweet rock!



Took a short detour around the right side to check out the rock band, before returning to the easy left side



Mount Glendowan (far right) joins the fray



Mount Dungarvan also looks fierce from here



Distant Mount Cleveland. The ridge in front is the hard route up Dundy Peak (also unofficially called Clougarvan). I tired and failed.



No matter how distant, my phone camera cannot resist Long Knife Peak (centre)



Actually, there are many things my camera can't resist!
 


Dungarvan at the left and Dundy in the centre. The ridge between Cloudy and Dundy appears to be quite challenging.



Almost at the false summit. The true summit at the left.



At the false summit, looking west



Looking north to the true summit (centre). Cloudy Ridge Junior to the right and Glendowan to the left.



A few clouds form around Dungarvan



Awesome ridgewalk to the summit



Cloudy Ridge Junior again. The challenge of a traverse from Cloudy to Junior is getting down to the ridge at the far left.



Cloudy and Junior


Lots of wind-sculpted and eroded red argillite on the ridge



Still fixated on Anderson



Signs at the left that Cloudy Ridge may soon be living up to its name!




More signs, as I approach the summit block



Still clear to the west though



Dungarvan has almost disappeared



But beautifully clear skies persist to the west



The last I would see of Dungarvan



The cloud layer streaming in from the east






At the summit.
The pano makes it appear as though clouds are coming in from two different directions, but they were just coming in from the east
 


Only the summit of Loaf remains above the clouds



Glendowan (left) and Newman Senior



Glendowan disappears



Bizarre weather! Note the mini rainbow at the bottom, just right of centre.



The summit cairn



Clouds consume the ridge I just came up. An attempt to traverse over to Cloudy Junior was out of the question at this point.



Visibility on the ridge during the first part of the descent
 


Much better visibility lower down
 


Looking back up the cloudy ridge (terrible pun!)


Back at Red Rock Canyon and ready to enjoy a slow exploration of the canyon's fine scenery (with a plethora of photos!)















































The crowded canyon, as seen from the bridge near the parking lot

The End

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