Mount Rowe

This nice weather is killing me!  I can’t bear to take a day off.  The blisters are starting to interfere however; both heels and my right pinky toe.  I couldn’t resist climbing in Waterton again today.  This time it was a quick (around 6 hours round trip) outing up Mount Rowe.  There are two options for ascent routes, I chose the more difficult North East ridge which involves some exposed moderate scrambling along a narrow ridge.  It was better than wallowing up another scree gully!

The only other hikers I saw today were 'ants in the landscape'

Mount Lineham and Rowe Lakes from ridge beyond Rowe's summit

Crazy scree descent from Mount Lineham two weeks ago (props to Tetsuomi and Christa who 'levelled up' on that hike!) It was nuts, but it looks even crazier when viewed from Mount Rowe!

The final section of the North East ridge up Rowe is pretty narrow and exposed on both sides, crappy rock too.. why did I go up this way? Because it is still better than wallowing up another gully!

Postcard which I placed in the summit register. The image on the reverse shows Akamina Ridge, which is visible in the background

The flipside

Mounts Carthew and Alderson

This was a big day out.  I woke up at 5am and drove down to Waterton (around 1 hour from Blairmore).  I saw two big bucks, a black bear and a grizzly on the trail.  I also climbed two mountains each nearly 2700 M.  The view of Mount Alderson from Carthew’s summit is probably the most impressive I have seen in the park.  It was also a Saturday in Waterton, which meant I was not alone – although the early start meant I hiked in on the Carthew-Alderson trail alone, and made it all the way up Alderson before even seeing anyone else.

Oh, and I saw a moose

The route up Alderson. It looks worse than it is, but there are two steps which require minor downclimbing along the way

Another view of Alderson (from Carthew's ridge later in the day)

Terrain near Alderson's summit

The route up Carthew (seen from Alderson)

Bellevue Hill

This was my second go at Bellevue Hill in Waterton.  On the first attempt thunder and lightning sent Jessica and I back before we even gained the ridge.  This was a rest day, and the light was pretty bad, so I took the opportunity to make an illustrated example of a typical easy scramble in the Rockies.  The summit view was nothing spectacular, but it did offer a good view of Mount Galwey, which looks like a giant Art Deco office building, made into a mountain.

This is an overview of the first part of the climb

The base of the initial ascent gully

From the top of the gully

The Crux step, not too difficult, but bad crumbly rock over a not-too-friendly drop

After gaining the upper ridge, I can actually see the 'summit'. I'll admit that it was farther away than I thought!

The view from the top

I returned via the next ridge to the West of the summit. It put me back on the road 1.7 km West of my car after a little bushwhacking, but was still much faster and safer than down-climbing the ascent route

Crypt Lake

This is a hike that I wanted to do for a while.  Rated as ‘Premier’ in the hiker’s bible – Don’t Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies – my expectations were great.  It all started with a $17 boat ‘tour’, which consisted of a 10 minute ferry across Waterton Lake.  The two highlights, crawling through a 20 metre cave, and an airy ledge replete with bolted chain, fell somewhat short of their descriptions.  Crypt Lake is in a tightly bound cirque, so the views consist of high mountains all above you, but it’s nothing new.  Perhaps I was soured by the rain which began as soon as we reached the lake, and did not subside until we reached the boat launch again.  I do look back on this trip fondly since it was shared with friends.

Checking our progress on the map

The tunnel

Jessica climbing up to the tunnel entrance

Thomas coming up

Taking a photo of Crypt Lake

Thomas and I waiting for the ferry back to Waterton's townsite