Heart Mountain VIII

 
March 19, 2025
 
Mountain height: 2150 m
Elevation gain:    900 m
Ascent time:        3:50
Descent time:      3:10
 
Scrambling with Mark. 
 
A week and a day after failing to reach the summit of Jewell Peak via Barrier Lake, we set our sights on the same objective, but this time from Grant MacEwan (Heart Mountain). And yet again, we were victims of my poor decision-making!
 
We packed harnesses and a rope to rappel the tricky downclimb encountered between Grant MacEwan and Jewell, and ice axes and crampons, but left the snowshoes behind. I thought success was fairly certain and once again I was wrong.


 
The first part of the ascent went well, and we made good progress up Heart Mountain. However, the wind soon became an issue. Unfortunately, it was a brisk and very cold one. Staying out of it became the focus of the ascent.
 
We eventually reached the summit of Heart and started towards Grant MacEwan. Issue number 2 reared its ugly head right away – our bad decision to not bring snowshoes. The deep fresh snow offered only miserable postholing and no support. We were able to battle our way to the summit of Grant MacEwan, where the route to Jewell Peak deviates from the normal route, but our energy levels were depleted, and the wind was not about to let up. As well, the route up Jewell looked fierce, holding way more snow than predicted – Grant MacEwan would be our highpoint of the day.

 
We hummed and hawed about a descent route. Back the way we came would be easiest, but completing the loop route, more interesting and scenic, dependent on snow conditions of course. We chose the loop route and lucked out – the snow was manageable throughout; only an increase in cloud cover was cause for some disappointment.
 
Despite failing (again) to reach Jewell Peak, a very good day out and reminder what an excellent route the Heart Horseshoe Loop is.

Heart Mountain dead ahead



The Sun lights up Mount McGillivray



Close-up



Typical travel on the lower slopes. Microspikes worked very well here.



Part of the impressive east side of the Lorette/Skogan/Gilligan/McGillivray massif



Unofficial, but very cool Gilligan Peak (North Skogan Peak)



The crux is a little tricky when snowy and the air temperature is brutally cold



View of the Bow River, mounts Grotto, Grable, Fable and others



Approaching the other crux



Almost there



There are a couple of exposed steps at the second crux



Continuing up



Steps away from the summit of Heart



Summit view to the west



Continuing on towards Grant MacEwan



Heart in the background



Semi-silhouette shot



The ridge at the left doesn't look too snowy, but the snow was deep and unsupportive



Looking back again. We needed plenty of breaks to catch our breath from the strenuous travel.



Another break



Grant MacEwan is finally within reach



Jewell (right of centre) is already looking too snowy



Start of the final push to the summit



Same as above



Same as above, but the other side of the ridge



Summit view to the south



The McGillivray massif again



Jewell is looking way too snowy



The crux of the loop route was getting down this snow slope near the beginning. The rest was easy.



Part of the easy



Had we succeeded on our attempt of Jewell the previous week, we would have come up the ridge just left of centre



Still marginally disappointed at not making Jewell



One of the highpoints of the loop



I believe Doug Lutz has traversed from Grant MacEwan to Jewell to Mary Barclay's Mountain to Lorette to Skogan to McGillivray - that's incredible!



Barrier Lake and the Baldy's



The cloudy conditions were also disappointing, but some of the clouds were kinda' neat



Heading to the last highpoint of the loop



Looking down the descent route



View from the last highpoint



As long as you stay on route, the descent is amazing



One of its cool features



Solid rock that is easy to descend



Same as above



Northwest view



Cool, but persistent cloud - it didn't budge for most of the descent



Looking over to the summit of Heart



Luckily the snow here and for the remainder of the descent was not deep



With some snow-free sections too



Never too late for some dead tree shots



At the base of the loop route, with an easy (though longish) walk back to the trailhead remaining

The End

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