“O Peak”

“O Peak”

August 20, 2021

Mountain height: 2800 m
Elevation gain: approximately 1000 m
Round-trip time: 7:15

Solo scramble.

This trip was a mistake. I foolishly rationalized that since I had completed nearby and higher “OXO Peak” in near perfect weather conditions, I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I checked out OXO’s lower outliers in less than stellar conditions. Given the insanely scenic nature of the Mosquito Creek area in general, I should have known that any exploration in the vicinity should only take place under clear, blue skies. At least I now know better for when I return to repeat this trip in the future – and that, I will!

I took the same route up to the hanging valley, southeast of Dolomite Peak and southwest of OXO, as for my OXO trip. The childish scowling and whining (to myself) began shortly after and continued through much of the trip. Though there were a few sunny breaks, the general theme of the day was heavy cloud cover.

Once in the hanging valley, the trip took on a “play it by ear” approach. I did toy with the idea of trying to ascend the outlier immediately south of “OXO Peak” (which I decided to call “OX Peak”), but instead was drawn to a distant splash of red on a wall of rock that was part of OX’s lower outlier (which must be called “O Peak”!). Recalling a similar experience on Molarstone Mountain, several years earlier, I was not going to be denied a closer look at the rock.

While the rock wall was not a striking as the Molarstone’s rock pinnacles, the colours of the highly oxidized rock were every bit as vibrant and pleasantly out of place. Once past this eye-catching section, the ridge was easily reached. From there, a somewhat precarious traverse on the exposed east side of the ridge allowed me access to the highpoint below OX Peak.

This is where the real scowling started! On a clear day the view from this location would have been extraordinary – much better than I originally thought it would be. Unfortunately, the cloud cover persisted, along with my bad attitude!

Not wanting to retrace my steps across the dicey east face, I descended a fair distance towards the approach valley, downclimbed a weakness in the aforementioned red rock band, and slogged my way back up to the ridge. There was still plenty more to explore and the lousy weather, fortunately would not be dampening that spirit. Another minor highpoint resided at the southeast end of the ridge, and it too sported a magnificent panorama.

The last order of the day was a finding a descent route. Following the ridge down in the southwest direction towards the Mosquito Creek Trail appeared to offer a straightforward path and it did. As always, the final few kilometres of the Mosquito trail seemed to drag on longer than expected.

A great day of exploration, but I’ll definitely be returning when the skies are clear.

First and distant look at the objective

Closer. The peak at the far left is OX Peak. O Peak is second from the right.

The creek that leads to the hanging valley

In the hanging valley

The impressive northeast outlier of Dolomite Peak

OXO Peak (just left of centre), OX Peak (just right of centre), and O Peak at the right

The long and jagged ridge of Dolomite Peak

Similar photo taken on a perfect weather day in 2015

OX Peak

OX and O

The splash of red rock that drew my attention

Heading up towards it

Looking better

At the base of the red rock wall and ready to see what it has to offer

Ooo!

Ouch!

Luckily, for this stretch of the trip, the Sun was out and shining on the colourful rock

You'd think I was in Waterton!

Gloomy conditions still persisting to the southwest

Nice contrast of oxidized and non-oxidized rock

Approaching the ridge at the far left

On the ridge, looking down into the valley to the northwest

Looking south along the ridge

Looking north to OX Peak and OXO (right) and the sketchy traverse on the east side of the ridge

The reason why I had to do the sketchy traverse

OXO

Great view to the east that would be remarkable if the skies were clear

I considered attempting OX from here, but chickened out

View to the southeast

Quartzite and Ramp peaks

Mosquito Mountain

Distant Molar Mountain in the centre

Close-up of Molar Mountain (left) and Molar Tower (right)

Molarstone Mountain

Another patch of blue sky to the north was cause for optimism

The view to the west was not!

Trying to find an easy way back down to the red rock so I can return to the ridge

Found one

Parting look at the highlight of the trip

Back on the ridge. It's straight down on the east side.

Heading for the summit of O Peak at the right

Almost there

Big gap in the ridge between two highpoints

Looking back

Same as above

A little clearing below Molar Mountain, but it was short-lived

Still a little obsessed with OX

The next highpoint is reached with ease

View to the south from this highpoint

There are still a few more highpoints and points of interest along the ridge to check out before descending

More unnecessary blue sky teasing!

Approaching a very striking feature on the ridge

Super cool rock along the way

The feature looks very impressive from this angle

Cool, slabby rock

Looking back up at the striking feature

The descent route follows the ridge

Looking up the descent ridge to OX, O, and other highpoints

Same as above but close-up

There was a scree ramp that appeared to offer an easy descent on the southeast side of the ridge, but I stuck to the southwest side

Threatening clouds over Noseeum

The south side of the mountain is very steep

More interesting rock

Clearing over Dolomite, but it's too late!

Looking back at the O Ridge

The End

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