Mount Strachan

Mount Strachan – July 15, 2006

Mountain height: 2692 m
Elevation gain: 1120 m
Roundtrip Time: 10:35

Scrambling with Mark.

Making the summit of Mount Strachan was not the best part of this trip – not by a long shot. That honour goes to stunning Carnarvon Lake. After a 9 km combination of riding and pushing them up steep, rocky, logging roads, we ditched our bikes and made our way to the headwall below Carnarvon Lake. Even here, an absolutely beautiful waterfall, cascading down the wall, was cause for an extended stay and many photos. Hauling ourselves up the chains, to gain the top of the headwall, was fun and easy.

From Daffern’s description in Volume 2 of the Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, I was expecting lake to be a pleasant shade of blue, which we would quickly look at, say “Oh! that’s nice,” and then be on our way. We were both astonished to see that the lake was an almost unreal shade of deep blue, which seemed quite out of place in the Canadian Rockies. I’ve always loved the colours of Lake Louise, Moraine Lake , and Peyto Lake, but in my option Carnarvon Lake blows them all out of the water (pun very much intended!). As well, the water was crystal clear and the shores were lined with different coloured rocks, making for some of the best scenery we’ve ever seen and definitely the best water scenery. I would normally reserve the use of the word “sublime” to describe various musical works of J.S. Bach, however, that adjective seemed to fit perfectly here. We could have easily spent the rest of the day gazing at the beautiful waters and exploring the entire circumference of the lake.

After a very long break at the lake, we did manage to pull ourselves away and start up the south ridge of Mount Strachan, knowing full that this was bound to be a bit of a letdown, given what we had just seen and experienced at the lake. The ascent was nothing more than an easy scree slog, but the views were worthwhile and increased in scope as we arrived at the top. The summit granted excellent views of Mount Harrison , Mount Abruzzi and the southeast face of Mount Joffre. As well, the Highwood Range was laid out in its entirety. Nearby Mounts Muir, McPhail, and MacLaren were particularly striking.

As planned, as did make an attempt to traverse over to Mount Muir, to the north. Unfortunately, after descending dangerously unstable rubble slopes about halfway down to the col between the two mountains, we arrived at cliffbands, where the only feasible route was a steep downclimb with few good holds and water running down it. Rappelling down the step would have solved our problems, however, there was absolutely nowhere to set up a rappel anchor, so we abandoned the attempt.

To make up for the failed attempt of Muir, on descent we detoured around to the southwest side on the mountain, where there stood several pinnacles of rock. From a distance, they didn’t appear to be very significant, however, they were, in fact, huge and again prompted us to stay and explore. From there, we returned to the lake and a long, peaceful, and very satisfying rest before the return trip. The first several kilometres of the bike ride back were a little tedious, as there were sections where we actually had to walk our bikes down, but after that, it was a smooth sail back to the car - except for a little run in with something that looked like a burned out tree about 60 metres in front of me – when it started to move, I realized it was a black bear reared up on its hind legs, checking me out. Obviously I didn’t make a good first impression and the animal bolted.

Overall, an amazing day of unexpected and unmatched beauty.