Drywood Mountain III


   

November 5, 2011
 
Mountain height:    2478 m
Elevation gain:       934 m
Ascent time:           3:45
Descent time:        2:45
 
Solo scramble.
 
Borrowing another Bob Spirko route, I set out to ascend Drywood Mountain for a third time, via the north ridge, instead of the southeast face. I didn’t have Bob’s specific route with me, but knew the general way up.    
 
The ascent drainage was easy to find and easy to ascend. Higher up the drainage, the dazzling shades of the red argillite canyons walls would have looked spectacular lit up by the Sun. Unfortunately, unless the Earth decides to completely shift its angle of rotation this canyon will never see a lick of Sunlight!
 
When it looked feasible, I left the creek and headed up a steep, scree slope leading to a particularly interesting rockband. From below, it appeared to be a straightforward ascent up the rockband; up close it was anything but straightforward! The terrain was steep, snow-covered, and quite exposed in places. After a couple of nerve-wracking moves up terrain I should not have been on by myself, I arrived at a far less serious slope and was able to breathe a sigh of relief. The remainder of the ascent  to the ridge was mercifully easy.
 
The only downside of the north-facing ascent, up to that point, had been that a complete lack of Sun, the mountain itself casting a tremendous shadow over the route. Periodic views of the summit block of Pincher Ridge behind me provided at least something to ogle at. That finally changed upon reaching the ridge, where glorious views of Pincher Ridge in its entirety and the west peak of Drywood awaited. Recent snow covered most of the stunning colours of rock on Pincher (in my opinion one of the most photogenic mountains in the Rockies), however I have never known snow to ruin the appearance of any mountain and this was no exception.
 
A somewhat foreshortened and very cold ascent of the north ridge followed, bringing me to the far northeast end of the peak and more fantastic, snowy views. From there, the 500 odd metre traverse to the true summit took me a solid hour – not because the terrain was challenging (it was all hiking, with one or two scrambling moves), but because the scenery on the ridge was so amazing that I was unable to keep my camera in the case (and consequently my hands warm!). Clear, blue skies, small, but shapely cornices, sun and shadow, gusts of violently blowing snow, followed by periods of complete calm, and just plain old breath-taking mountain scenery made this traverse as enjoyable an experience as I’ve ever had in the mountains. I LOVE winter!!


At the summit, I tried (unsuccessfully) to warm-up my hands, soaked up the magnificent surroundings, took a phone call from my brother, made a call to a friend to let her know I was freezing my butt off, alone on a mountain, quickly wrote off the idea of traversing over to the slightly higher, but quite distant west summit, and then started down. The descent was relatively fast and very easy. I found a much easier route down than the tricky one I took up.
 
An absolutely superb trip!   


The classic view of Victoria Peak (left) and Prairie Bluff, with Butcher Lake in front


Victoria Peak


Drywood Mountain to the left; the west summit in the centre


Looking back to Pincher Ridge


The red argillite in the canyon


More of the canyon


The interesting rockband that lured me
 

Pincher Ridge again


Finally some Sun, looking at the next section of the ascent


Windsor Mountain and Castle Peak


The view to the west, northwest, and north


The west summit of Drywood (left) looked fantastic throughout the day;
the summit of Victoria Ridge at the far right


Looking down the east ridge of Drywood, with the prairies beyond


Looking west along the ridge towards the summit at the left


Snow sculpting


....with red argillite


Approaching one of the most scenic sections of the ridge


From the south side of the ridge


Always one of my favourite scenes: snow, rock and blue sky


Minus the rock


Another one of my favourite scenes: snow and shadow



Blowing snow time


or maybe not


Blustery



Calm

When you can't decide which photos you like the best, stick them all up!









The next section of the ridge


Same as above


Curves of snow and the prairies below


Different curves


Same as above


Finally getting closer to the summit


The summit view towards Loaf Mountain in the centre


The view to the west; the west peak in the foreground, at the right is the south summit of Pincher Ridge


Northeast


A more comprehensive summit view


Victoria Peak (left) and Pincher Ridge


Same as above, with a chunk of red argillite mirroring the peaks


Another superb spectacle of wind-sculpted snow

   
Same as above
Many scenic views on return also


A last look at the ridge and summit


Looking back up the ascent route


The ascent route from the gravel road

 
The end
 
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