Mount Head

Mount Head attempt – November 5, 2005

Roundtrip time: 10 hours

Scrambling with Mark and Jodi.

Right mountain….wrong route! Occasionally, we do learn from our mistakes. After last week’s somewhat frustrating trip up Newman Peak, where we hiked in cloudy and bitterly cold conditions, while peaks to the east bathed in beautiful sunlight, we chose an objective that is at the front of the Front Ranges – Mount Head. The strategy generally paid off – generally, because although we enjoyed clear skies and great scenery through much of the day, we were still subject to high winds and very cold temperatures. This eventually translated into a failed attempt.

After yet another ill-fated attempt to avoid unnecessary elevation losses, by leaving the Gunnery Creek Trail and shortcutting (?) through forest, we did work our way over of the start of the Mount Head’s east ridge (already a good hour behind schedule). The first obstacle of the route was a significant, vertical rockband near the start of ascent. From a distance, there appeared to be a weakness in the band and so we headed in that direction. The weakness granted easy access up the first band, but a second proved to be a little too much in the cold weather conditions. We did find a couple of places where an ascent may have been possible, however, the terrain was snow-covered and we were all suffering with very cold hands and weren’t up for the difficult scrambling/easy climbing required to ascend the step. We also all thought that traversing around the left side of the band would reveal an easy route up and therefore we passed on the first, and probably best, ascent route. Several hours later, we were still trying to get above the band and had actually lost elevation, in trying to find an easier route. At 2 pm (6 hours after leaving), a GPS reading soberly revealed we were still 700 vertical metres from the top of the mountain. This summit would be waiting.