Newman Peak – October 29, 2005

Mountain height:       2,515 m (8,249 ft)
Elevation gain:          approx. 1,200 m
Roundtrip time:         7:55

Scrambling with Mark.

A last chance to see some of the stunning scenery of peaks surrounding Waterton’s Red Rock Parkway and with a good weather forecast, Newman Peak seemed like a logical choice. We weren’t expecting the great scrambling granted to us by Mounts Dungarvan and Glendowan, however, for us, fantastic scenery almost always supercedes fantastic scrambling, so we didn’t mind the fact that this would be nothing more than a steep hike.

At the parking lot, the sky was surprisingly cloudy, but we expected clearing later in the day. After biking 4.6 km on the Snowshoe Trail, we started up the Goat Lake Trail, towards the lake. The day’s first frustration came when we arrived at the scenic lake, backdropped by the colorful and vertical walls of an outlier between Avion Ridge and Newman Peak . A blue sky would have rendered this scene astonishing.

We keep going, heading up the hanging valley towards a col west of Newman Peak , continually frustrated by the cloud-filled sky. The scenery was great throughout, but would have been superb with a clearer sky. In the valley, we were sheltered from a strong and constant west wind, however, as soon as we made it to the col, the winter jackets came out immediately, as the wind chill brought down the temperature well into the minus twenties. We decided to head to a highpoint west of Newman Peak and on the way to Avion Ridge. This was a scenic little detour and provided some great scenery down the steep east face of the outlier. Continuing on to Avion Ridge seemed pointless, since the low-lying clouds were even more pronounced to the west.     

We, therefore, turned around and proceeded east, towards Newman Peak and clearer skies. The traverse was easy, but the wind had picked up and it was viciously cold. A higher summit stood further east and so we continued on. The view from this highpoint was very pleasant: the traverse to Glendowan and the colourful peaks of the Castle Crown area of special interest. It was again frustrating to see peaks such as Pincher Ridge and Drywood Mountain bathed in sunlight, and I wished we had chosen an objective in that area. 

Our summit stay was short because of the bone-chilling temperatures and we made a fairly rapid descent, taking a shortcut by cutting directly down the slopes of Newman Peak to the valley below. The return slightly downhill and very rapid bike ride was a godsend at the end of a fairly long day. When the road reopens in the spring, we’ll be back to try the traverse to Glendowan or to Avion Ridge – the stunning beauty of the area definitely warrants a return trip.   

On the Goat Lake Trail

Goat Lake

The walls above Goat Lake

Same as above

Interesting rock

Heading towards the col; Newman Peak lies to the right

A scenic band of rock

Same as above

Almost at the col, with Newman Peak at the right

At the col; Newman Peak behind

Heading towards a highpoint in between Newman Peak and Avion Ridge

Early season cornice scenery

Almost at the highpoint, with Avion Ridge to the right

Mark at the highpoint

Heading back to the col, then to Newman Peak (left), then to the higher point to the right

Resting at the summit of Newman Peak

Heading to the next highpoint between Newman (left) and Glendowan

The ridge that joins Newman and Spionkop Ridge (right)

Slogging up to the highpoint

A rare appearance from the sun at the highpoint

Looking towards Glendowan and the connecting ridge

Clear skies over Pincher Ridge (background left) and Drywood Mountain (background right) 

Looking down the Red Rock Parkway; Blakiston in the clouds at the right, the ascent slopes of Glendown and Dungarvan to the left and Mount Galwey (left) can be seen

LOG