Skogan

Skogan Peak - Unnamed north of Mount Lorette at GR302516 – October 22, 2006

Mountain height:           2662 m
Elevation gain:               950 m
Ascent time:                  6:20
Descent time:                3:30

Scrambling and a little mountaineering with Mark.

On our first attempt on this peak, in January of this year, we were repelled by snow and brutally cold weather. Although the area had seen a recent dumping of snow, we thought the present warm temperatures would melt most of it before we reached the ridge and it wouldn’t be a concern.

The long trudge up Lorette’s ascent gully was once again very enjoyable, filled with beautiful scenes of rock in a variety of colours. The perfect blue sky and remaining snow in the gully sky certainly did nothing to detract from the stunning surroundings. We arrived at the col to find the slopes were still snow-covered, however, they were east facing and so that wasn’t a surprise. What did come as a surprise was the view towards our objective when we reached the first highpoint. The connecting ridge was still holding plenty of snow – as a matter of fact, there was more snow on the ridge than we encountered in January. In addition, the strong west wind was not a warm, Chinook one, and immediately, we were forced to put on every layer of clothing we had and thick, winter gloves. The trip had the making of an exact repeat of January’s attempt.

Nevertheless, the phenomenal scenery, especially the beauty of the connecting ridge, and the cloudless, blue skies, at the very least warranted a continuation of the attempt until we were given no choice but to turn around. Thankfully, by the time we reached the narrow section of the ridge that turned us around in January, the temperature had warmed up quite a bit and we were able to trade the winter gloves for our scrambling ones. After setting up a belay station, Mark belayed me across the exposed ridge, which actually turned out to be very easy. The snow did add a little challenge, and crampons were absolutely essential, but the rock was fairly solid with good holds.

After that, we continued up and along the ridge until we arrived at a series of tilted and overhanging rock bands that would have to be circumvented. We started traversing left across the mountain. This required elevation losses and some route-finding, but the traverse was enjoyable and the rock scenery continued to impress us. Finally, we could see the summit and kick-stepped up snow-filled gullies towards it. Back near the ridge the drop on the east side of the mountain was exhilarating.

Without the snow the ascent would have amounted to long sections of enjoyable slab scrambling. The snow was not altogether a bad alternative. As always, it added immeasurably to the overall scenery and with crampons the slopes were easily ascended. We reached the summit to find it was not the summit. As the view suggests from various angles, Skogan Peak (the name given to GR302516 on the Bivouac website) has a double summit and we had arrived at the slightly lower one. The true summit was not far, but we were both exhausted and it looked like it was a million kilometres away. Thankfully, a short descent to a col, followed by a 5 minute plod and we reached the summit.

As expected, the view was spectacular – far better than that of its lowly cousins: Lorette to the south and McGillivray to the north. Mount Lougheed , Fisher Peak , and Mount Joffre were particularly prominent.

We started the descent, hoping that we could shave of a good chunk of time from our lengthy 6 hour, 20 minute ascent. Usually, the last thing we ever want to see in the sky is clouds, however, a few wispy cirrus clouds suddenly appeared above the summit. This was one of those rare occasions where the clouds actually enhanced the views. The descent was very easy and much faster than we expected. As well, the snow had started to melt, at this point, and sections that were tricky going up were much easier coming down. Definitely one of our most enjoyable and gratifying trips of 2006 so far.