Mount Collembola

Mount Collembola – February 5, 2006

Mountain height:       2,768 m (9,079 feet)
Elevation gain:           1,240 m
Ascent time:              4:30
Descent time:            2:45

Scrambling with Mark.

We had a deadline for this trip, but not because of the shortened days of winter. Having watched every Super Bowl since we moved to North America in 1979, we needed to be back in Calgary by 4 pm, to keep that streak going. Hence, we left Calgary at 5 am, in order to be on the trail (or in this case, the ski run) by 6:30.

We had spent the previous day at the Nakiska ski hill, honing our downhill skiing skills (or in my case, flailing skills!), and spotted a potential route up the southeast ridge. On the map it appeared to be shorter than the usual route from the north and had the added bonus of gaining about 400 vertical metres ascending the northern-most ski run of Nakiska. It took us an hour of hiking, by headlamp, to do so, but was dead easy on freshly groomed runs (of course, if we’d been really smart, we would have skied up the run, ditched our skies and then skied down on return).

Getting from the ski run to the ridge was definitely the most tedious part of the trip, requiring several annoying elevation losses, travel through deep, powdery snow, and climbing over deadfall. Thankfully, it took only 45 minutes. Once on the southeast ridge, the remainder of the route was straightforward and easy, highlighted by interesting scenery towards Mount Allan and beyond. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the clear skies we were expecting, as clouds streamed in from the west throughout the day, however, those clouds made for some beautifully atmospheric scenery. Needless to say, the wind was vicious all day, the temperatures very cold, and just trying to warm became the primary objective.

We arrived at the summit at 11 am in decent, but deteriorating weather conditions, took a few pictures, descended the north ridge a short distance to check out the crux of that ascent route (which was plastered in thick snow), returned to the summit, waited for the weather to improve (it didn’t) and then started the descent. Although we would have liked to traverse over to Mount Allan and descend via the Centennial Ridge Trail, the weather wasn’t good enough and we didn’t have enough time to do so.

Arriving back at the top of the ski run, we did get some odd stares as we walked down parts of the long run and then Crazy Carpeted down the sides of other parts – again skis would have been a far more sensible and expedient way to go. A good day out followed by a moderately entertaining Super Bowl – Pittsburgh: 21 – Seattle: 10.