Prairie Bluff XVIII




    
 
August 8, 2021
 
Mountain height: 2258 m     
Elevation gain:    670 m
Round-trip time:  4:30
 
Solo scramble.
 
Note: this is actually Prairie Bluff XVI, however, I forgot about the ascent until a similar trip in 2025 and I’m way too lazy to change the numbering!
 
The objective for the day was to find an ascent route up Prairie Bluff’s east face trending from the southeast to the summit farther northwest. Mark and I descended the face in 2010, and though a few rappels were required, we both agreed that the face had all kinds of potential for numerous scramble routes.
 
Starting at the southeast side of the mountain, I worked my way up to the face and then embarked on a fascinating and scenically rewarding ascent – a tour de force of amazing, colourful rock, cool gullies, and lichen. The route I took ended up gaining a bunch of elevation and then traversing north to a point right under the summit. I then scrambled up easy ledges, popping up less than 20 metres from the cairn. The only source of disappointment was a breakdown in the weather throughout.
 
Descent was via the reliable south ridge and that’s all she wrote!

The southeast side of Prairie Bluff



The east side of Prairie Fire - I've always wanted to explore that side of the outlier.



Pincher Ridge (right) and Drywood Mountain to the south



Colourful rock on the south end of the peak



My route will eventually go somewhere up there



A few beautiful, green, grassy slopes to traverse first



And of course the odd dead tree to behold



The first significant rock band



And the first significant red argillite sighting







Gained elevation here to get above this band



A good reason to gain elevation



And another


A ton of random scenes from the ascent














Something is dying



The beautiful colours of death











More traversing. I went beneath this formidable rock band



It was definitely cooler from below than above











Another green surprise



Cool trees at the left and ominous clouds coming in from the west



I thought about trying to get into the gully left of centre, but wisely reconsidered



Lichen time



















Passing by another gully



















Getting closer to the summit ridge



















This is part of the gully we ascended in 2025. Doesn't look too severe here, but it was with snow.












A mess of wires near the summit. No idea what they were for.



Lichen on argillite



Another familiar scene from 2025 at the base of the last couloir. From here we went to the right. On this day I went left.



Traversing around the left side











Delighted to see the cairn only metres away from where I gained the ridge



More ominous views to the west, with Castle Peak at the left and Mount Gladstone at the right



Drywood, Pincher, and Fire again



Victoria Peak is always the most eye-catching from the summit



Heading down the south ridge



The south ridge is a colourful one



Looking down a potential descent route



Decided to go all the down to the end of the south ridge



Looking back to the summit















Interesting rock band on the west side of the ridge



And at the south end











Looking back at the general route

The End

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