The Croissant X



     
 
November 18, 2023
 
Mountain height: 2307 m
Elevation gain:    350 m
Round-trip time:  3:30
 
Solo scramble. 
 
A late morning start limited objectives to something relatively short and it almost goes without saying that The Croissant would be the route of choice. The tasty little peak is as reliable as the rising Sun in providing numerous short and super scenic routes to its summit.
 
Nothing considerably new to report. I took snippets of several different routes just to keep things interesting. One short section near the beginning was new to me, but otherwise the trip was on familiar terrain. Of course, that did little to impair my enjoyment of this gem of a big hill!
 
The Croissant moves onto the small but growing list of double-digit ascents!


The start of the ascent route, looking very dry for mid-November



Cool cloud



Cool rock!



Some of the frozen waterfall has formed, but big chunks of it have fallen off



Colourful rock to the right of the fall



Back to the ice











Hard to see, but there's a bolted belay/rappel anchor with red chord in the centre



View of the falls from the left side. There's considerably less ice at this time of the year than February, for example.


Here's February 22, 2020 (22/02/2020 - interesting date, number-wise!)






I decided to stay left of the frozen waterfall and ascend the same slopes Dave did on a previous trip



This ridge is riddled with colourful and interesting rock



Looking over to The Muffin and the route I took (where the shadow is) when Dave and I split up



Back to the awesome rock


















I see a monkey face at the upper left



Still ascending the ridge, but getting ready to traverse right, underneath the rock band that lines the ridge



Below the summit ridge



Traversing



Took that route up one time



The quicker you start going up, the more amazing rock you miss while traversing



Case in point







Finally decided to go this this gully - same one I used for IX



The route features great rock and generally easy terrain near the left side











Looks easy to the ridge, but it's deceivingly steep and any snow/ice makes for potentially dangerous conditions



Traversed right here to avoid the snow







Mini cornice



The snow I thankfully decided to avoid



The usual, but never boring view of Drywood Mountain



Same for Bakery Peak/Icing On The Loaf



Mount Roche and Spionkop Ridge



In terms of a variety of routes up, Woody has it all! I, II, III, V, VI, The Knot



Summit view of lengthy Drywood Mountain. Southwest summit at the left.



The main summit of Drywood and it's eastern outliers



The Muffin to the east



The Eaglet and Raptor Peak (left) are the outliers of Mount Roche (Spread Eagle Mountain)



Heading down



The band of red argillite that runs across the peak is not to be missed























No more argillite for now and time to descend



Looking back at the band



Following the closest drainage out. Lots of small but cool ice features throughout. Again, later in the season is far more rewarding.











Out of the drainage and traversing over to the easy descent slopes, east of the frozen waterfall



Encountered this green/gray argillite band on the way







The band and summit of The Croissant







The last round of fantastic rock











The gas road is near







Always photograph The Muffin when close to the trailhead

The End

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