Ribbon Peak

Ribbon Peak – September 9, 2006

Mountain height:           2880 m
Total elevation gain:      1400 m
Ascent time:                  7:10
Descent time:                4:35

Scrambling with Mark.

This seemed like a perfect day to try Ribbon Peak – an ascent and route suggested to me by Bob Parr. Actually, it was the “imperfection” of the day that rendered Ribbon a good choice – with dense forest fire smoke pervading every corner of the Canadian Rockies, a mountain whose entire west view was blocked by enormous Mount Bogart seemed logical.

The first surprise of the day came when we arrived at the Third Memorial Lake to find it was no longer a lake. The Lake had dried up to a puddle, no more than 3 metres in diameter. Less than 2 months previous, it was full to the brim. Even though we knew the smoke would detract from the scenery throughout, it was still disappointing to arrive at this beautiful area and be denied a clear sky as a backdrop.

As Bob forewarned us, getting up the headwall was a fun exercise in routefinding. We tried several different routes before Mark found a steep but straightforward one that involved some very enjoyable hands-on scrambling. Mark led the ascent and soon we were at a col between Bogart and Ribbon. We then hiked south, where Bob suggested we gain the ridge and follow it easily to the summit.

Once on the ridge, we got our second surprise of the day. The ridge didn’t appear to be easy – as a matter of fact, it was knife-edged and severely exposed on both sides – like Lady MacDonald, but five times longer. We didn’t waste any time in pulling out the rope and setting up some sling belays, though in retrospect, only caution and due care, not ropework, were required.

After several hundred metres of sometimes intense and nail-biting scrambling, the ridge widened and the remainder of the trip was considerably easier. Just before the summit, the ridge reared up in a shapely, slightly overhanging outcrop of rock. Though it looked intimidating, such was not the case and we strolled easily to the summit. Again, the hazy conditions were a source of discouragement, especially since the summit view was much better than I was expecting. It could have worse, though – we could have been on the summit of Bogart! That would have been extremely disappointing, given Bogart’s phenomenal summit view.

The barren summit register was very interesting. The first recorded ascent, led by legendary climber and guide Hans Gmoser in 1957, had thoughtfully been rewritten on the new piece of paper. Since then, 5 parties including our own, had signed the register. We both found it odd that an accessible and very enjoyable peak had only received 6 ascents in 49 years, but then we wouldn’t have thought about going up the mountain, had it not been for the insight of Bob.

For descent, we started back the way we came. Once back at the exposed ridge, it seemed we could actually head straight down the mountain. This route worked wonderfully and avoided almost all of the exposure. Of course, we then began to think on ascent we had traversed too far south and thus encountered all the exposure that we weren’t expecting. Nevertheless, if we had to go back, we would do the route in exactly the same way – “difficult up – easy down” - I always say! A terrific scramble – thanks Bob.