Sanson Peak II
December 24, 2017
Mountain
height: 2256 m
Elevation gain: 655 m
Ascent
time: 1:45
Descent
time: 5 minutes
Solo
hike.
Another
good winter objective when frigid temperatures prevail. The wind chill in the
morning was forecast to be a ridiculous -38 degrees Celsius. Fortunately the
east side of Sulfur Mountain/Sanson Peak is generally well sheltered from any
west wind and I didn’t find the extremely low air temperature to be an issue
at all for the entire ascent.
That
changed upon reaching the ridge. Although the wind was nothing more than a
gentle breeze, it was enough to make -38 feel like -38!! Nevertheless, the
skies were clear, views were awesome and a quick traverse over to the Cosmic
Ray Station (summit of Sanson Peak) at least allowed me to hide behind the
building to get some reprieve from the wind.
My early
start time meant that the Sulphur Mountain Gondola Station was still closed and
so after hiking back to the station, I turned around and repeated the pleasant
boardwalk to Sanson Peak. By this time both the Sun and air temperature had
risen, yielding even better views and slightly more tolerable weather
conditions.
Returning
again to the now open gondola station, I was pleasantly surprised to find out
that from October to May the ride down is free, thus accounting for my
miraculously fast descent time of 5 minutes!
I
finished the day with a quick visit to mostly frozen Bow Falls. Overall, a very
rewarding day.
The glorious yellows of sunrise and the snowy but well packed down trail
Almost at the ridge. The top of the gondola is visible.
Cascade Mountain getting that earlier morning Sun
At the top of the gondola
Summit view from Sanson Peak
The boardwalk back to the gondola
Cascade Mountain, Banff (below Cascade) and the Bow River
Mount Rundle is starting to see some Sun
Round 2 of the Sanson Peak view
Cascade Mountain
Pilot Mountain
Mount Edith and striking Mount Louis at the right and Cockscomb Mountain, just left of centre
Mount Cory
Mount Temple
Deltaform Mountain
The Cosmic Ray Station and summit of Sanson Peak
Mount Aylmer
Mount Peechee
Inglismaldie (left) and Girouard
Summit view from the gondola again
Bow Falls
The End
