Mount
Lorette attempt
April 24, 2004
Mountain
height: 2,487 m (8,160 ft)
Elevation
gain: approx: 1,050 m
Ascent
time: Horribly long, and we didn’t
even make the summit
Descent
time: Miserably long……and we didn’t
even make the summit!
Round-trip
time: 12:50
Climbing and scrambling with Mark.
This trip made our 13-hour epic on Narao Peak, last month, look
like a stroll around the backyard. In terms of difficult scrambling/easy
climbing routes, Mount Lorette certainly separates the men from the boys and as
you can see by the word “attempt” in the title, it is quite obvious which group
we are presently members of. When Sean Dougherty uses the words “airy” and
“exposed”, in the route description, in his book Selected Alpine Climbs in
the Canadian Rockies, he is not exaggerating in the least. This route has
more exposure than a day at The Playboy Mansion! It astounds me to think that
people have done this mountain solo and unroped.
For a second week in a row, we made a mad dash across the frigid
Kananaskis River (I’m getting a pair of hip-waders if I have to take out a
second mortgage!). In short order, we were on the southeast ridge of the
mountain and hiked up to where the scrambling and climbing begins. The routes
started with some difficult scrambling up steep terrain, and then eased a
little as we made our way up to the narrow ridge. Very quickly, the seriousness
of the route became apparent. With exposure on both sides, setting up good
belays was very important and we were careful to do so. We continued on, very
slowly and cautiously, until we came to the small gendarme blocking the ridge.
It would have only been a couple of steps to get around it, however, at the
time it was quite serious (severely exposed on the west side) and we sat around
for at least 30 minutes contemplating whether to turn back or go on. We decided
to go for it, and in retrospect, it was not bad at all, it least compared to
what was to come.
As we gained elevation, we came to one exposed situation after
another, each more unnerving than the one before. Eventually, we arrived at the
first serious climbing section – Dougherty gives the route an overall rating of
5.4, but others seem to think 5.6 is more appropriate. Not liking the look of
the steep walls ahead, we traversed the wide ledge system on the east side,
looking for an easier route. One seemed possible, but after a brief attempt, we
found it to be too challenging and returned to the ridge. Some intense
searching revealed a feasible route up the rockband and I started up. The
climbing was fairly exposed, but the rock was solid and with a little kick of
adrenaline I propelled myself to the top and the beautiful sight of a fixed pin
(you can’t believe how happy I was to clip into it!). Mark had the unenviable
task of following me up, carrying not only his, but my backpack too (I left it
below when I it was preventing me from getting up the short crack section).
More ridge, more exposure….at this point, the airiness of the
route was starting to get to me and I found myself just wanting the exposure to
end…..but it didn’t! There are some people who get a real high from exposed
situation – apparently, I’m not one of them. Eventually, we came to a section
with a 2m vertical downclimb, followed by an exposed traverse up to the very
steep wall of rock. I did the downclimb, but the traverse and steep wall looked
to be too much for us. Had we known that this was the crux and there was easier
terrain to the summit, we would have continued on. However, we didn’t know that
(and still don’t), and so after much deliberation we decided to retreat.
The descent was a nightmare. Making it to the summit would have
meant an easy descent down scree slopes. Now we were faced with the unpleasant
challenge of rappelling and downclimbing the exposed terrain we had just
ascended. It started off okay, as we very cautiously downclimbed the
ridge and then rappelled from a piton down the hardest climbing section. From
there, we decided to rappel down the east side of the mountain, towards the descent
gully, as opposed to continuing along the ridge. In retrospect, the ridge would
have been far easier (requiring about 2 rappels and downclimbing) and probably
shorter.
On ascent, we had found a short rope and rappel sling around a
tree when attempting the ledge on the east side, and so we chose to follow the
same route – I guess we not the only people that have bailed on this mountain.
4 rappels (thank you to the individuals who placed a couple of great bolts)
took us down to a scree gully and easier terrain. This was short-lived,
however, and the gully steepened, again making rappels off tress necessary.
More steep terrain, more rappels….it went on and on and on. Mentally, at this
point, I was a complete basket case – over twelve hours of merciless and
unforgiving terrain. Needless to say, we were unbelievably relieved to find the
correct descent trail, at the bottom of the gully that took us easily to the
Stoney Trail and the Kananaskis River.
Not the most physically exhausting day (though probably in the top
10), but hands down our most mentally exhausting and challenging day.
Nevertheless, a day later, we are already planning a return trip!
Mount Lorette
Pleasant hiking to the start of the climbing
Roped up and ready to tackle the south ridge route
Fun climbing
The ridge is about to get very exposed
Bypassed a steep section here
Back on the ridge
End of the line. We retreated at this point.
The End
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