Rowe East IV




 
 
April 11, 2024
 
Mountain height:                   2330 m
Elevation gain:                      680 m
Ascent time:                          2:45
Descent time (with a detour)  2:40
 
Solo snowshoe.
 
After nine days vegetating on a Cancun beach, I needed a short trip without excessive elevation gain that would reacquaint my body to the suddenly foreign concept of an elevated heart rate – walking 15 meters from my beach chair to the bar to get a pina colada didn’t quite do the trick!
 
Rowe East fit the bill perfectly. While the winter route is not a pushover, it’s a decent workout on generally safe terrain (route dependent, obviously). And why didn’t I choose the winter version of slightly higher Mount Rowe? I’ve come to the surprising conclusion that Rowe East is a more enjoyable ascent, boasting varied scenery and options to take different routes up and down.
 
I ended up taking a slightly different route between the drainage to the west and the ridge to the east. After a fortuitous and wonderful encounter with a wall of colourful rock I continued up for a while, eventually trending over to the ridge. The scenery and views are much better there.
 
Though I wasn’t blessed with completely clear skies, there were some pretty cool clouds to keep me entertained as I made my way to the summit for the fourth time – three of those ascents in the short span of 4 months.
 
Given I still had some energy, I decided to make a stab at Mount Rowe. The chances of making that summit in winter conditions were not great, as the ridge has a few short but exposed sections of scrambling. Any snow remaining on the ridge would be problematic. And problematic it was! Getting over to the ridge was straightforward except for one steep section where I felt crampons and an ice axe were necessary. I then started up the ridge trying to stay off the snow on the left side. At one point while probing with my ice axe, a big chunk of cornice failed, starting a minor avalanche that when almost all the way down to the valley bottom. That was enough for me to turn tail and get outta’ Dodge!
 
Back at the Mount Rowe/Rowe East col I took a slightly different route down the mountain before heading into the drainage. Unfortunately, the sticky snow did not allow any glissading.
 
A wonderful day on a wonderful peak. Rowe East has now officially replaced Mount Rowe as my “go-to” winter route in Waterton. 



Mount Rowe (left) and Rowe East (right)



Crossing from the Mount Rowe side of the drainage to the Rowe East side



Random dead tree in the drainage



Nice contrast of tress and rock



Here we go again with Buchanan Ridge (left) and Mount Carthew!



Mount Rowe



Trending over to the Rowe East side



One of the interesting clouds that will become a feature of the trip



Gotta' check that rock band out



Good call!


Traversing under the rock band definitely satiated my red argillite obsession

    



    



    



    




Mounts Chapman and Custer at the left


    



    




    


    







    



    




End of the rock band and ready to start going uphill



The Trees - 43 years old and still aging like the finest of wines!



The terrain gets steeper



More red argillite



And then its gone



But not for long!



Cameron Lake and company



The feature rock band that caught my attention on my first ascent of this ridge



Reunited with The Fork



The view gets even better - too bad about the overcast skies



However, interesting clouds are forming to the east



Big cornices still hanging out



Nice mossy surprise



Cloud close-up



Clouds, mountain, and a random tree



Another tree that sticks out



Looking down to the road, meandering Cameron Creek, and Cameron Lake



Another cloud close-up



On the ridge and minutes away from the summit



The summit



View to the west



Looking down on Lower Rowe Lake



Buchanan Ridge and Mount Carthew again



Mount Peabody at the left, Kintla and Kinnerly at the right, and part of Akamina Ridge in the foreground







Mount Custer above Cameron Lake



Kintla and Kinnerly



Heading towards Mount Rowe



It's a scenic and easy traverse, but cornice awareness is paramount!







Cool clouds persist to the east



Looks easy from here



Felt the need for crampons and an ice axe here



Looking over to Rowe while ascending the steep section



On the ridge. I still had faint hopes here.



View behind



The largest Upper Rowe Lake



Hope is fading



End of the line. Stepping onto the snow here would have been an extremely questionable decision!



The smaller Upper Rowe Lake



View from the highest point I reached



Lots of distinctive peaks in Glacier National Park, Montana



Mount Cleveland



Mount Chapman



Another view of impressive Mount Custer (right)



Looking down the slope that avalanched due to a cornice failure



Missing is the chunk of snow that started the slide



Parting look at the ridge to Rowe



The smaller Upper Row Lake again - this lake varies dramatically in size at different times of the year: big; small



Another set of dramatic clouds



Lenticular clouds over Custer



Same as above



The length of the avalanche is now visible



Staying in the lightly treed terrain just in case



My down track



Gentler terrain means I can go into the drainage



The snow was still firm enough to avoid wearing snowshoes, but that didn't last



Carthew Minor-Minor



Back down to the road



The After of the Before/After shot

The End

LOG