Dundy Peak

   

Mountain height:    2480 m
Elevation gain:       1025 m
Ascent time:           3:25
Descent time:         ?

Solo scramble.

I originally, and of course unofficially, dubbed this mountain “Clougarvan Peak”, given its location between Cloudy Ridge and Mount Dungarvan. Upon retrospect, however, “Dundy Peak” seemed to be a more user friendly title, so let’s go with that!

In addition to changing the name, I decided to take a totally different route. My attempted route via Red Canyon failed as a scramble and so I set off, up my other favourite creek in Waterton, Lost Horse Creek. Lost Horse Creek is yet another one of the innumerable geological marvels of Waterton National Park. If you have enjoyed the fascinating and fun trip up Red Rock Canyon, its easterly twin is a must-do.      

I made slow progress up the creek (there are too many awesome scenes of incredibly colourful water-worn rock to ignore!) and then started up the south ridge of Dundy. Travel up to treeline was easy and relatively fast. The scrambling then started, and although not as exciting as the south ridge of Mount Dungarvan, there was enough hands-on scrambling and interesting route-finding challenges to keep me on my toes.

The only real challenge was the near vertical band of rock that lines many of the mountains of the massif. Thankfully, after a little searching I did find a weakness that offered a steep and somewhat exposed, but short route up through the band. Much easier terrain led to a false summit, with a terrific view of the true summit and surrounding peaks. The true summit was reached shortly after. 

The descent was as interesting as the ascent. I decided to look for an alternate route down by traversing towards Mount Dungarvan. Once again, a little route-finding and some back tracking were needed, but the terrain was never too tricky as long as I searched for the easiest path. I was surprised to discover that a complete traverse over to Dungarvan seemed quite possible and for a little while I was tempted. However, finding a safe down through the aforementioned rock band was the first order of business and therefore I abandoned the idea of a full traverse.

The search was a short one. Not only was there a weakness through the significant rock band, but a section of it had been completely filled in with scree and rubble – it was a simple walk down!  The remainder of the descent featured a small green oasis, in the middle of the stark rock scenery, with some very colourful berries, the enjoyable boulder hop back down to Lost Horse Creek and of course the return journey down the creek (even better later in the day when the Sun reaches the canyon.  

An extremely rewarding day and route in perhaps my favourite area of Waterton National Park.  

The Moon over Mount Blakiston



The colours of Lost Horse Creek



The contours of Lost Horse Creek



Interesting scenery low down on the south ridge of Dundy



Above treeline the route unfolds



The main bulk of Dundy's south ridge



Here comes the scrambling



But not this! Had to go around it



Typical scrambling on the route



Typical non-scrambling on the route (had to go around this too!)



And this!



The false summit of Dundy (left) and one of my favourite scrambles in the world, Mount Dungarvan (right)



The vertical rock band that provides the crux of many of the scrambles on this massif



Going right didn't look good



So I went left and found a weakness a short distance along the face




At the false summit. The true summit of Dundy in the centre, the two summits of Cloudy Ridge (left) and Mount Dungarvan (right)




Mount Anderson (just left of centre) is also one of my favourite scrambles



The huge slab of rock missing from Jake Smith Peak was a big surprise to me. Scarpe Mountain at the left




More colourful views before reaching the summit



Mount Dungarvan, as seen from the summit of Dundy Peak



The double summit of Cloudy Ridge (two separate scrambles, approached from opposite directions)



The summit of Cloudy Junior



Heading down the alternate descent route



Red argillite - I'm shocked!!



Looking back up to Dundy (left). Contrary to appearance, this is all easy to moderate scrambling



The traverse to Dungarvan looks EXTREMELY tempting at this point!



Instead I found the weakness in the aforementioned rock band and went down towards the creek



Dundy (left), Dungarvan (right), again!



The magnificent rock of Dungarvan's summit block



Speaking of tempting - these red things (?) looked quite tasty!



But I left them for the bears



Down in the creek



Red argillite starts to appear



One of the reasons Lost Horse Creek is incredible as a trip in itself



Another reason



Now there's some red argillite!!