Ghost Peak
July 31, 2021
Mountain height: 2588 m
Elevation gain: 1060 m
Ascent time: 4:15
Descent time: 3:35
Scrambling with Mark.
Very simply, the nastiest smoke-filled day
we’ve ever experienced during our 20-year stint in the mountains!
Knowing we were in for a hazy day because of
all the forest fires burning around Western Canada and the U.S., we picked a
front range objective; one where far-reaching views were not the primary focus.
Ghost Peak, an increasingly popular ascent since Cornelius Rott’s excellent trip
report from 2016, seemed to be a good choice, though in retrospect it was not!
We generally used routes outlined by
Cornelius, Matt Hobbs, and Matt Clay, following logging roads and cutlines to
the base of the mountain. Once near the base, the striking features of the peak’s
south side become very apparent – a seemingly impregnable wall of rock, adorned
with pinnacles and interesting rock formations.
Thankfully the impregnable part was an illusion.
There were multiple passageways up and through the wall. 
We did have to
backtrack a few times to find a reasonable route but eventually gained the
ridge. From that point, the summit was an easy hike away.
And
here comes an explanation of the earlier
“it was not!” assessment. Clearly (pun intended), we should have waited
for a
smoke-free day to tackle this ascent. The scenery on the mountain was
excellent
and even squinting through the awful smoke we could tell the smoke-free
views would also
rise to the level of excellence. On this day not only would we
experience some of our most disappointing non-views to date, but to add
insult to injury we were
assaulted by a swarm of bugs at the top and had to limit our summit
stay to a
coupe of minutes – not that there was anything to look at anyway!
Nevertheless, we didn’t see the harm in
continuing to the next highpoint to the southwest. The extension provided a
pleasant diversion, before we retraced our steps down the mountain.
Definitely one for the books! No way would
either of us would go out on a smoky day like this one in the future. Hopefully
lesson learned and hopefully these levels of smoke will not become the rule rather than the exception.
Dirty yellow smoky skies and a reddish Sun, as seen on the drive in
Old logging roads make easy work of the approach at the start
Onto a trail. Ghost Peak looking rather Ghostly!
South of Ghost Peak sit two more unofficial mountains, Sheep Meadow Mountain and Sheep's Claw
Closing in on the col between Ghost Peak (right) and Sheep Meadow Mountain
Same as above
The southeast face of Ghost
Yucky smoke-filled view over the other side of the col
A good trail leads of the base of the south face of Ghost
The impressive south face
Sheep Meadow Mountain is behind us now
Heading up Ghost
Lots of interesting terrain and route-finding
Mark ascends a short step
We traversed to the right here
The first of several cave-like features
Mark checks out another (left) and also the first of several impressive pinnacles
Cave #2
Still exploring and finding very cool terrain
Like this
And this
Why is the Sun red on smoky days? The smoke particles in the air
scatter the longer wavelengths of light (red, orange, yellow). On a
clear day the air molecules scatter the shorter wavelengths (blue).
This knowledge did NOT make the trip any better!!
Returning to Cave #2 to find another cool light trick, as a sliver of
Sunlight makes it into the back of the cave, turning the rock orange
A little stemming
Back on the left side of the south face and trying to reach the ridge
Same as above
On the ridge, looking at the other summit we made it to after Ghost
The very distinguishable pinnacle seen earlier in the trip is super prominent here
Same as above
Staying near the edge of the ridge rewards you with terrific views of the rock features on the southeast and south sides
Hiking towards the summit - the highpoint right of centre
Looking back to the col and Sheep Meadow Mountain
There are a few interesting spots along the otherwise straightforward ridge to the top
The straightforward part
At the summit. Hard to believe this is a cloud-less day.
Short break before we go over to the summit in the centre
Off we go
Gaining the highpoint at the right seemed possible but we stopped at the one in front of us
Steep terrain to the left
Steep terrain to the right
All the terrain in front
Looking back to Ghost
A few scrambling moves are required
Cool colours for the rock, not so for the sky
The ridge continues all the way to Mount Davidson at the left.
Attempting Davisdson from Ghost would be an extremely long and tiring
day that would likely require climbing equipment
Our stopping point for the day
There definitely was a surreal quality to the views, but that's not always a good thing!
Same as above
Descending
Another sliver of Sun
Looking down the steep east face
Mark's perch on the edge
Back to that pinnacle
Couldn't enjoy any far-reaching views, but at least the mountain itself offered plenty to gawk at
Last look at the south face
Last look at the southeast side
Back through some marshy terrain
And last little bit of "Smoke Fest 2021"!
The End
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