Drywood Mountain attempt (Northeast Ridge)
May 28, 2017
Solo
scramble.
Simply
craving a summit, after a string of thoroughly enjoyable, but summit-less
hikes, I threw my bike in the car, with the intention of a second ascent of
Pincher Ridge, but via the descent route. However, upon stopping to take by
bunch of mountain reflection photos in Butcher Lake, the east ridge of Drywood
Mountain suddenly caught my attention. It looked insanely steep near the
summit, but after a little wavering I decided the trip was worth a look (the
200 odd metres of elevation gain that could be completed in the comfort of my vehicle
was perhaps also a motivating factor!).
No
summit, but this was a magnificent trip from beginning to end: phenomenal colours
and rock scenery, enjoyable ridgewalking, followed by fun scrambling and a few
route-finding challenges – just your average and typical trip in the Castle!!
I did
make it to within 100 vertical metres of the summit ridge, but backed down when
I reached terrain that I was unsure that I could safely downclimb, if I hit an
impasses higher up. There was the possibility to traverse over to the north
ridge, but I was happy to just descend the way I had come up, once again enjoying the colourful ridge.
Awesome summit-less
trip!
Butcher Lake can be irresistible for mountain reflections. The Northest Ridge of Drywood goes from left to right.
Victoria Peak and Prairie Bluff
Hiking the gas road to the start of the objective (left)
Some early indications that this could be a colourful day
Pincher Ridge and Victoria Peak (distant right)
A little chunk of scrambling before reaching the ridge
The Northeast Ridge of Drywood
Easy and fun ridgewalking
The start of the colourful rock
A cairn marks one of the many highpoints along the way
Approaching the first real challenge
It turned out to be easy to moderate scrambling
Castle Peak peeks out
Atop the first obstacle, the remainder of the route unfolds
The second obstacle, easily circumvented on the right
A close-up of the summit block
Looking back down the ridge
Approaching the steep section
Too steep to scramble, so I went over to the right on the snow
Looking for a weakness
The terrain starts to get quite steep
Went around this rock on the snow.....
... to arrive at this - the end of the line. Turned around here
More pleasant scenery on descent
The End
