GR's of Upper Canyon Creek

GR’s of Upper Canyon Creek – August 25, 2007

GR heights:                   2308 m, 2334 m, 2501 m, 2571 m , 2612 m, 2626 m, 2613 m
Total elevation gain:      approx. 1400 m
Round-trip time:            10:10

Solo scramble.

What started off as a bid to get two or three GR’s of Upper Canyon Creek, ended up as a traverse all of seven of them. I got the idea from one of Bob Spirko’s trips to the area. The interesting rock formations, mentioned by Bob, between the second and third GR’s were of particular interest.

Mark and I had already completed an ascent of the first one so initially I thought I’d save the energy and bypass this one. The lure of the ridge was far too great, however, and I found myself searching for a route up the steep cliff band guarding the ridge of the first peak. The first two GR’s were easily ascended and it off to the third. As Bob points out the rock formations were terrific – a little reminiscent of last week’s ascent of Devil’s Head. The formation that looked like a reptile or dinosaur was absolutely bizarre. As well, the slab scrambling to the summit, though short, was very enjoyable.

After peaks 3 and 4, I decided to go a little further, since this would be my last scramble of the summer. Peak 5 was a fair distance away and involved some route-finding around a steep rockband. Along the way, there were plenty of options to bail by descending easy scree slopes to the left. However, the scenery changed just enough to keep me entertained, even though the scrambling was minimal.

After 5, I descended to the col between 5 and 6 where a route down to Bryant Lake was obvious. Of course, at the col 6 seemed only a short distance away and since it also appeared to be the highest peak of the traverse I couldn’t resist. It was in fact the highest point of the ridgewalk and the sun even came out for a short time. The 7^th peak lie to the east and because it was lower than peak 6, I opted to skip it and head down to Bryant Lake, but not before a quick visit to a slightly lower point that lay a few hundred metres to the west. At that highpoint (not a separate GR), I spotted a potential alternate descent route from the 7^th GR down a drainage that appeared to lead directly down to Canyon Creek. This gave me an excuse to run over to peak 7 and then try the alternate descent, since I had visited Bryant Lake a year earlier. The route was a good one and the descent only took 2.5 hours, after a 7.75 hour ascent. An enjoyable trip to end the summer of 2007.

Some odd formations on a cone

Part of the ridge from Peak 1; 2, 3, and 4 are visible from right to left

Looking back to 1

4 in the centre, 3 to the right with Tiara Peak at the far right; 5 to the left

Looking to 3, Tiara Peak and Belmore Browne

Approaching the weird rock formations

The weirdest one

More interesting rock on the ridge

Same as above

Slabs before 3

Same as above

A view to the northwest; Sparrowhawk, Wind, Lougheed, and The Three Sisters in the background; Allan
and Collembola in shadow; Wasootch Peak, Wasootch Tower and "Kananaskis Peak" in the foreground