Prairie
Bluff VII
(south face of south outlier)
November
17, 2018
Mountain
height: approximately 2100 m
Elevation gain: approximately 550 m
Roundtrip
time: approximately 4 hours
Solo
scramble.
7th ascent of lowly Prairie Bluff??
Not quite – I actually didn’t go all the way to the summit ! The route I ended
up taking, however, turned into yet another outrageously stunning visual
spectacle of colourful rock and fantastic scenery.
Prairie
Bluff shares many traits with another
mountain I have found myself on multiple time – Mount Baldy. Both are
unassuming, front range, diminutive peaks with multiple summits and
therefore a multitude
of completely different routes to each summit.
This was another unplanned trip. Having
completed a short but viciously cold hike (due of high winds) in Crowsnest Pass
in the morning, I decided the rest of the day would be spent inside. However,
the skies were clear and I simply couldn’t waste that away. Since Prairie Bluff
had very successfully salvaged a potentially wasted day on more than one
occasion (II, III, and V), there was no harm in testing
the small mountain again. The goal was to repeat Prairie Bluff VI but in
reverse; the wonderfully colourful south face of one of the outliers was bound
to look pretty decent with the Sun beating down on it and clear skies above. I
figured I could brave the cold for an hour or so and with some luck would be
sheltered from the wind once I got below the south face.
The first part of the trip went as planned.
However, once at the south face, the lure of some pretty cool looking rock was
cause for a short, minor detour to check it out up close. In short, this minor
detour turned into the major one as I fortuitously found a terrific route right
up the face and all the way to the summit of the outlier (sounds eerily similar to Prairie Bluff VI!). The whole route was
characterized by one amazing scene of beautiful rock after another. And given
the wind was non-existent on this side of the mountain, I had all kinds of time
to stop to take it all in.
Gaining the summit was also a real treat
(recalling another November trip up Drywood Mountain), as the wind
wreaked havoc on the snowy ridge. I stayed at the summit of the outlier only
for a couple of minutes, due to the severe cold, and started the descent around
the west side of the outlier. I had no intention of going all the way to the
true summit in the harsh weather conditions – I’m not that brave!
The descent route pretty much mimicked the
unplanned ascent route. In other words I failed to stay on the trail and
instead ascended up to the steep (and again colourful) rock of the outlier and
followed the rock wall back towards the start. A small, but beautiful frozen
waterfall along the way was the highlight of this part of the trip. The day
ended with a very easy, wind assisted hike back to the car.
Another unexpectedly phenomenal day out on one
of the most interesting mountains in the Canadian Rockies (of course, probably
in my opinion only!).
Had to stop for these deer on the drive in, so might as well photograph them gracefully jumping the fence
Hiking the gas road, with Victoria Peak ahead and the more southern outlier of Prairie Bluff to the right
The outlier Mark and I ascended way back in 2008
The more northern outlier - the day's objective
Looking south to Pincher Ridge - some recent and extremely fond memories of that mountain
Close-up of the objective - no shortage of varying colours here!
The pronounced trail can be seen running across the lower slopes.
My ascent route goes up the weakness near the right side.
A good sign of things to come
Red argillite - my second addiction in life (chocolate was the first)
The outlier I'm trying to ascend (centre and right) and the outlier already ascended (left)
November may be one of the nastier scrambling months of the year, but it often provides insanely blue skies (Belmore)
The route up goes through a weakness to the left of the pinnacles at the right
Heading straight up between the pinnacles
A few moves of interesting scrambling to get around this rock
Pincher Ridge looks so peaceful, but it's getting pounded by the wind
More sweet rock!
Easier, but equally stunning terrain on the middle section of the mountain
Close-up of the rock above
Thought about going up here, but the rock was more colourful around to the right
See!
The summit appears above
Couldn't get enough of this rock and the blue sky above!
The true summit of Prairie Bluff appears
Still enjoying calm conditions, approaching the summit
Just below the summit ridge. Looks nasty up there!
Took shelter by this red argillite band before ascending into h%$l!
Blowing snow and cornices - almost as good as red argillite and chocolate
The tree branches I had to grab onto to haul myself up and over the cornice at the top
Above the cornice
The summit of the outlier has a cairn and a pretty decent view of Victoria Peak
The summit of Prairie Bluff is a little less dramatic, but I still love it!
Windsor Mountain (far left), Castle Peak (distinctive, pointy one), and Mount Gladstone (centre)
A lone, twisted dead tree - those could potentially qualify as my 4th addiction!
Heading down, around the west side of the outlier
On the good trail, in the shadow of the other outlier and looking longingly at the beautiful rock above
Not going to be able to resist a closer look at this
The Sun makes a world of difference - this pinnacle would look amazing with the Sun shining on it
Ascending scree slopes to the rock wall above
Out of the shadow
Not much to say about the next part of the trip except WOW!
Approaching the frozen waterfalls
There they are
Had to photograph each from every possible angle!
Regrettably leaving the falls
Traversing below the rock wall
Back to the red argillite
....and other cool rock
The northeast outlier of Pincher Ridge is getting hammered by the wind
Parting look at the mountain
The End
