Commonwealth Ridge II

"Commonwealth Ridge II"

February 21, 2010

Mountain height:         2561 m
Elevation gain:            750 m
Ascent time:                3:15
Descent time:             3:25

Solo snowshoe and scramble.

There were two good reasons for picking this trip:

1. our first ascent in 2003 was marred by cloudy weather;

2. having played a gig with Talking Dog the previous evening, I wasn’t feeling particularly energetic. I knew a snowshoe trail had been broken to the north highpoint of the ridge by other parties, making subsequent ascents infinitely easier. Taking advantage of that fact seemed to be the smart (ie. lazy) way to go.

The ascent to the ridge was in fact very easy and above treeline, the views were terrific. Commonwealth Peak and Mount Birdwood were incredible! Shortly after, I reached the first highpoint of the north ridge and traded my snowshoes for crampons and an ice axe. I was surprised to find several sets of very recently made tracks going up the ridge and I was more than happy to follow them. The terrain was steep in a couple of sections, but they were thankfully short-lived.

Very soon, the view I really wanted to see started to emerge – the British Military Group to the south. The statuesque group that includes French, Robertson, and Sir Douglas was expectedly magnificent, although the Sun was not in the best position for photos. Small, but shapely cornices on the ridge also added to the terrific views. The last section of the ridge to the north summit was much easier and a sheer joy to traverse, in light of the ever-improving views.

After a brief stay at the centre summit, I continued south towards the true summit, a short distance away. Initially that had not been my intention, however, tracks from the aforementioned group went that way and so would I. One section before the summit looked pretty daunting and I thought progress may be halted at that point.

As I made my way along the beautiful ridge I started to wonder if the tracks belonged to So Nakagawa of SOISTHEMAN fame (So has completed a ton of trips and has an awesome website). I’ve never met So, but this kind of terrain seemed right up his alley. I would later discover that my hunch was correct and So and his companions had done the same trip 24 hours earlier.

Approaching the difficult section of the ridge, it became quite obvious that the route would have to go around a significant rock-band blocking the ridge and not over it (So refers to it as “The Ridge of Death” and I couldn’t agree more). Here, I was especially thankful for the tracks left by So and company. As a lone traveler I would not have done this section if the trail hadn’t been broken. A steep, but short ascent beyond the rock-band and I was at the true summit.

While the summit view was only slightly different from that of the centre summit, that small difference was more than enough to justify the extra effort. The east face of Commonwealth Peak was as impressive a mountain as I’ve ever seen, and the unobstructed view south towards Sir Douglas and company was outstanding. I took a very long summit break to soak up the intensely beautiful views in every direction and then took a quick look at the alternate descent route via the Commonwealth Peak/Ridge col. The attempt was short-lived. The route may have worked, but again I was alone and didn’t want to push the envelope (it’s already stretched pretty thin!). As well, returning along the ridge would allow me to experience that outstanding scenery again.

Upon returning to the north summit, I was warmly greeted by a couple of fellow snowshoers who introduced themselves as Dave R. and David K. Coincidentally, both Daves were/are was math teachers, but at a much higher level than me. Dave R. as retired a professor from the University of Calgary and Dave K. is a professor at Mount Royal College. We had a very pleasant chat before I made the easy return trip to my car.

An absolutely brilliant day in the mountains!

L to R: Commonwealth Ridge, Commonwealth Peak, Pig's Tail, Birdwood