Picklewood Peak attempt




    
 
July 3, 2025
 
Mountain height: 2645 m (I made to 2594 m)
Elevation gain:    900 m
Ascent time:        4:10
Descent time:      2:10
 
Solo scramble.
 
The objective for this day was South Highwood Peak, as described in David Jones' outstanding guidebook, Rockies South. Why the South Peak of Highwood and not the true summit, a mountain I’ve failed on twice? Answer: I had tickets to the Calgary Stampeders first-ever “Stampede Bowl” and didn’t want to miss a second of the game - a shorter trip was needed and South Highwood Peak seemed achievable.



 
After the easy hike to the Picklejar Lakes and a scenic jaunt around three of the four bodies of water, I started up the steep scree/rubble slopes between the third and fourth lakes. Sticking to the side of an outcrop of good rock made easier work of this potentially laborious section. Upon reaching the ridge I initially started losing a bit an elevation towards the ascent slopes for South Highwood Peak. However, another mountain, identified as Picklewood Peak on the Gaia map, suddenly caught my eye. The summit of Picklewood was about the same distance as South Highwood’s but slightly less elevation gain would be required. The other lure here was continued views of the beautiful lakes. I suspected the south ridge of South Highwood would block them from sight. And so I turned around and started up Picklewood’s west ridge.
 
Initially, travel up the ridge was engaging and fun, on rock of decent quality. I could see potential problems higher up but would cross that bridge when I arrived there. That arrival came quite quickly. The ridge became increasingly more challenging, with immense exposure on the right. I had to get to easier slopes on the left, a process that ate up a fair amount of time and the loss of significant elevation.
 
Nevertheless, I was eventually able to resume the ascent, naively thinking the summit was “in the bag” at this point. Not so. A highpoint was reached about 500 horizontal metres and 50 vertical metres from the summit. The view here was fantastic in almost all directions and just plainly scary in one direction. Unfortunately, that was the direction I needed to go to achieve the summit. The final 500 m did not appear user-friendly on any level, with a massive vertical drop on the left side and steep, sketchy terrain on the right. I made a feeble attempt, lasting no more than 20 metres and then returned to the highpoint. Even with more time to make a real effort, all manner of nastiness appeared to separate me from the summit, and I don’t think a scramble route would have been possible.
 
I thought a long false summit break would ensue but suddenly realized that the football game could be a 6 pm start. The time was 11:50 am, I stood at a point at least 2.5 hours of travel from my vehicle, with another 2 hours of driving to get back to Calgary – no long break for me – I like to get to football games long before they start!
 
The descent went surprisingly fast, as I found a slightly shorter route down to the lakes. After that, a brisk hiking pace got me back to the parking lot in less than the predicted 2.5 hours.
 
Overall, a very enjoyable day with fantastic scenery and interesting scrambling. Picklewood is a no-go, but I’ll have to return for South Highwood Peak someday.        
 
Epilogue 1: upon returning home, I found out that in 2007 Alan Schierman had achieved the summit of Picklewood from the other side of the mountain, via Junction Creek. He did go to the south col first, so it may be possible to gain that col from the Picklejar Lakes and then follow the south ridge to the top. Schierman’s route is significantly longer and requires a ford of the Sheep River. I’ll put the route via the Picklejar Lakes on my “when I can think of nothing else” list.    
 
Epilogue 2: the football actually started at 7 pm, so I had plenty of time. The Stamps stunned the Blue Bombers with a 37-16 win. Not only that but the first “Stampede Bowl” was a raging success, the Calgary Stampede Showband lighting it up and Brett Michaels tearing it up at halftime with a high-energy performance of all the Poison favourites.



Water droplets on leaves are always photographic favourites after a night of rain



The Sun rises over Lineham Ridge



More water on leaves



Something else



The cool Picklejar Lakes Trail wraps around the side of "Picklejar Hill"



Heavily treed Picklejar Hill has very limited appeal for an ascent



Even the thistles look good here



Mount McPhail left of centre



First view of the initial objective - South Highwood Peak



Mist Mountain at the left. Had a great day on that one two days earlier.







The first Picklejar Lake



Looking back on the first and Picklejar Hill



Approaching the third lake



Near the west end of the third. I took the scree/rubble slope on the left side of the major rock outcrop at the right on ascent and down the right side on return.



Same as above. Picklewood Peak near the right.



Overlooking the fourth lake



Back to the third



Both lakes and the Sun



An impressive feature of Lineham Ridge's north face



The ridge between Picklejar Peak (GR593982) and Picklewood Peak



At the shores of lake 4



Heading up slopes on the other side of lake 4. Note the unusual green spot on the lake.



Close-up of the green spot



Looking up my descent route, although I didn't know at the time I would come down this way



Traversing left towards the ascent slopes



Views of Lineham and the lakes are going to take centre stage for a while



The rock outcrop I will descend alongside, several hours later



Still going left to find an ascent line



Heading up. Staying near the solid rock on the right made travel a little easier.



Bug on a flower



Just the flower



Tempting to go up this way but the terrain up high looked daunting



Went up this way instead



At the col. The view on the north side.



The view on the south side



Better view of the north side. South Highwood just left of centre and Picklewood at the right.



Picklewood, Picklejar Peak and lakes, and Lineham



Picklewood looks to be straightforward from this vantage point



Going around the first obstacle on the ridge



South Highwood Peak, with Highwood Peak just peeking over the shoulder near the right



Looking back at the obstacle



Same as above



A big cairn indicates many have traveled at least to this point



Still enamoured with the lakes



And the rest of the view in that direction







Fun scrambling for now, but it gets more serious higher up



More of Highwood Peak appears



Another obstacle  on the ridge and the end of the line as far as staying on the ridge



Down to easier terrain on the north side of the mountain



South Highwood and Highwood and their respective ascent routes are now almost completely visible



One of the last obstacles (at the left) I had to get around before reaching what I thought was the summit



At the western highpoint of the ridge. The summit is about 500 m away.



Small but very cool outlier of Picklewood, northeast of its summit



The valley to the north leads to Junction Creek



Closer look at the ridge to the summit at the far left.


Highpoint panos:


















After scrambling the ridge for 20 metres I turned around. The terrain ahead gets quite exposed and the jagged ridge looks to be beyond scrambling further along.



The north end of Picklejar Peak. Scrambling from Picklejar to Picklewood also seems to be beyond the realm of scrambling.



The cool cliffs of that outlier



Pyriform Mountain - seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only 9 years



Close-up of Pyriform



Junction Mountain - my first ascent of that one WAS a lifetime ago!



Interesting ridges to the north



Part of Junction Mountain's long north ridge



Mount Bishop


The east side of Mount Joffre, just right of centre



Close-up of Highwood Peak's summit



Close-up of South Highwood Peak's summit



All four of the Picklejar Lakes



Back down in the valley below Picklewood



Hiking to the alternate descent route, left of the outcrop



At the col



Looking down the route



Glancing over to Picklejar







The col between Picklejar and Picklewood looks like a potential route



The outcrop



Approaching the lakes



Up and the left side, down on the right



Back at the third lake



Last look at the third lake and Picklewood



The first lake and South Highwood again



All downhill from here



Parting view of Lineham Ridge. It doesn't look like much, but has some of the best hands-on scrambling in the area.



Close-up

The End

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