Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Fortress, Again
This wasn't in the plans, but that's where I ended up. I was planning for Gusty peak, and was definitely headed that way.
I was at the Chester Lake parking lot at about 9:30. That's definitely a little later than I like starting, but that gave time for the crowds to get there and chase out the bears. I started up the trail with my pack and poles almost as soon as I got out of the car.
Five minutes later I turned around and headed back. And five minutes after that, I started again, this time with my GPS. I can never get out the door, it seems, but that I have to go back for something I've forgotten.
I had a ton of energy this morning. I set a fast pace and was soon off the ski trails and on the path to Chester Lake. As I neared the lake, I caught up to a couple of guys checking their maps, and then another gentleman I had passed earlier caught up with us.
We discussed our various plans for the day, and the one that caught up to us pointed to the valley to the west of where I thought I wanted to go, saying that the grassy slope up to a low peak in the foreground was Gusty, but I was pretty sure that the craggy ridge humping upward just east of that was the one I wanted. I'd forgotten to bring Alan Kane's scrambling book, but one of the Mount Chester guys had photocopies of the pages relevant to the area, and offered me the one on Gusty.
But I took the directions for where I should go, and charged up a trail just past where we crossed a brook emptying into the lake. A few minutes in, I came on a couple of massive rocks in a clearing, and decided to check out the maps and Kane's write-up on Gusty. It talks about taking the same route as for The Fortress, and skirting a small lake opposite the Fortress-Chester col, so I was pretty sure I was on the wrong trail.
I backtracked to the lake, and continued along it's edge until the trail that branched off toward Fortress. I still had a ton of energy and my pace was pretty aggressive. I was on top of the headwall in no time, and a little ways on I passed a rock band that starts in the valley and goes all the way to the top of the ridge to Gusty. After that I started to edge up the scree on the left side of the valley.
I managed to get up fairly high, fifty or sixty metres above the bottom of the valley. I crossed a couple of snow fields, which were a lot more solid than I thought they would be. Close to the end of the valley, I found myself atop a scree covered ridge that sloped to the bottom of the valley, ending close in under the shadow of Chester.
From this vantage, the view of Gusty was almost identical to the picture in Kane's book, even to the snow fields on the scree separated by rock bands. It looked wicked steep, and the snow I would have to climb covered several hundred metres of the scree. Meanwhile the slope up to the Fortress-Chester col also looked wicked steep, with a broad snow field down the middle. But the scree was clear on either side.
I found the look of the snow on Gusty to be too intimidating, so I descended across the snow field in front of me and crossed over to the east side. I'd decided that Fortress would be a reasonable objective if I couldn't do Gusty.
Wicked steep. The scree wasn't too loose, but it did slide out from underfoot, making me feel like I was going two steps forward and one step back. I'd taken the the left side of the snow field, all small gravelly stuff in a narrow band between the snow and the slab on the flank of Fortress.
All that extra energy I had, I pretty much used up here. This stuff was awful. About two thirds of the way up, the snow had melted down the middle, leaving a crotch of scree. It looked a little less loose than what I was on, and I only had about twenty metres of snow to cross to get to it. I gingerly stepped on the snow.
It was pretty firm, and gave enough to let me get a good footing. I had worried about slipping on the stuff. This slope is better than 45 degress, and I would have picked up an awful lot of speed had I lost my footing. Plus, at the bottom, the snow ended about 50 metres before the slope did, so a slide would have ended with a nasty road rash.
The scree in the middle was a little better, but it was still exhausting working my way up. The slope rounded a little toward the top so that the steepness eased off, but by then I wasn't noticing that. I finally gained the col, and parked on a small rock pile to rest, re-hydrate and re-energize.
After a few handfuls of trail mix, I gathered up and started up. The other side of the col was completely covered in snow, and there was even a small cornice stretching across the top. I had watched another hiker descending toward me as I rested, and I met him a hundred metres up slope.
He had come up the Headwall Lakes side and climbed the snow. The whole valley on that side was pretty snowy, and what was exposed was looking wet and boggy. He hadn't enjoyed the snow much.
After that, it was slog to the top. I was pretty much done from the climb on the scree. The high energy levels I'd experienced earlier were completely gone. I did most of this climb with head down, watching the wolf spiders scurrying underfoot. Occasionally I remembered to look up and look around, and check the GPS for altitude. The summit block seemed small and far away.
As you climb this last three hundred metres from the col, you zig-zag across a scree field bordered by a rock band. When the rock band ends, the slope narrows, with bare slab rolling away to the left, and a sheer drop on the right. The path approaches the drop, and the view is gorgeous. It looks down on the end of the Headwall Lakes valley, and over the col between Fortress and the un-named peak to the east. Past the col is the chalet and other buildings of The Fortress ski area.
Behind, Mount Chester splits the view with Chester Lake a deep blue-green to the right, and the blue Headwall Lakes surrounded by snow fields on the left. And at this angle, the route to the top of Gusty looks not bad at all. It's likely not nearly as steep as what I'd climbed to the col, but that snow field would have still troubled me. It definitely stays on my list.
I followed the trail to the left of the summit block and found the notch to climb to the top. And there I was.
Mount Kidd to the north was mostly bare, and the trail up to Guinn's Pass stood out like marker on paper. Past that, Mount Bogard was free of snow. To the northwest was Gusty, Galatea and The Tower. Straight west and far way, Assiniboine was dark and pointy, with large snowfields across its northeast flank. Directly south, Joffre, another 3500 metre monster, was a broad, smooth, unblemished white. I donned my light fleece to keep out the chilly breeze coming up from the col.
I actually spent quite some time up there, snacking, looking around, checking maps and scanning with the field glasses. At 3000 metres even (my GPS said 3024), Fortress is high enough for some spectacular views.
My legs ached and I felt used up. I wasn't looking forward much to the descent. But I finally packed up and headed down. Scrambling down to the top of the trail, I found that the way I'd come up the last five metres was probably a lot harder to climb than where I found to go down. My trail finding skills need work.
A long trudge downward. About a third of the way down, I noticed a large crowd climbing the snow on the Headwall Lakes side, at least six on the big snowfield, and three or four more coming up beside it. When I was just about at the bottom, a group of six passed on the direct route, while I was zig-zagging to the side. Another couple followed them, and then the guy who mis-directed me to Gusty. At the col, another group of seven more started up just as I reached it. It was going to be crowded up there.
I decided to descend from the col on the other side of the snow field. The first half was loose soil and small gravel, and I covered that quickly. But that gave way to loose rocky stuff that at times would slide treacherously, carrying me with it. On the other side of the snow, a couple were making there way upward. She was scrambling up the slab beside the scree, which seemed to me a little dangerous. Her male companion was trudging up the scree twenty metres below. A troubling thing was that occasionally he would unleash a barrage of rock, that on the slab would gather a lot of speed. I watched the rock rollall the way to the bottom; good-sized stuff that would kill if it hit someone. I hoped he was only dislodging it accidently.
On my side the heavy stuff would also occasionally roll a long ways downslope. Some large rocks bounced on to the snow, where they would eventually plow a trench too deep for them to continue. It was slow going. At the bottom I had to cross a couple of snow fields, and in a couple of places I sank pretty deep.
On the way down the valley, I stayed near the bottom. I had to cross several snow field and a fair amount of flowing water. By now everything ached and I was tired. I finally gained the headwall, and then faced about two hundred metres of descent across rock bands and through forest. At the bottom I crossed the meadow, and climbed a short ways into forest before descending to the lake.
After a short stop to hydrate and snack, I continued on. From here it was a straight trudge to the parking lot, about an hour of plodding through forest and down ski trails. I thought briefly about soaking my feet in the creek that paralleled the first part of the trail and skirted the parking lot, but it was late and I was tired, hungry, and ready to head home.
This one was challenging this time. The scree was a tough climb and a tough descent. And I'd pushed pretty hard at the start.
The Fortress
Starting elevation: 1906 m (6253 feet).
Highest elevation: 3023 m (9918 feet).
Lowest elevation: 1906 m (6253 feet).
Elevation gain: 1117 m (3665 feet).
Distance: 18.1 km (11.2 mi).
Time: 7:56.
I was at the Chester Lake parking lot at about 9:30. That's definitely a little later than I like starting, but that gave time for the crowds to get there and chase out the bears. I started up the trail with my pack and poles almost as soon as I got out of the car.
Five minutes later I turned around and headed back. And five minutes after that, I started again, this time with my GPS. I can never get out the door, it seems, but that I have to go back for something I've forgotten.
I had a ton of energy this morning. I set a fast pace and was soon off the ski trails and on the path to Chester Lake. As I neared the lake, I caught up to a couple of guys checking their maps, and then another gentleman I had passed earlier caught up with us.
We discussed our various plans for the day, and the one that caught up to us pointed to the valley to the west of where I thought I wanted to go, saying that the grassy slope up to a low peak in the foreground was Gusty, but I was pretty sure that the craggy ridge humping upward just east of that was the one I wanted. I'd forgotten to bring Alan Kane's scrambling book, but one of the Mount Chester guys had photocopies of the pages relevant to the area, and offered me the one on Gusty.
But I took the directions for where I should go, and charged up a trail just past where we crossed a brook emptying into the lake. A few minutes in, I came on a couple of massive rocks in a clearing, and decided to check out the maps and Kane's write-up on Gusty. It talks about taking the same route as for The Fortress, and skirting a small lake opposite the Fortress-Chester col, so I was pretty sure I was on the wrong trail.
I backtracked to the lake, and continued along it's edge until the trail that branched off toward Fortress. I still had a ton of energy and my pace was pretty aggressive. I was on top of the headwall in no time, and a little ways on I passed a rock band that starts in the valley and goes all the way to the top of the ridge to Gusty. After that I started to edge up the scree on the left side of the valley.
I managed to get up fairly high, fifty or sixty metres above the bottom of the valley. I crossed a couple of snow fields, which were a lot more solid than I thought they would be. Close to the end of the valley, I found myself atop a scree covered ridge that sloped to the bottom of the valley, ending close in under the shadow of Chester.
From this vantage, the view of Gusty was almost identical to the picture in Kane's book, even to the snow fields on the scree separated by rock bands. It looked wicked steep, and the snow I would have to climb covered several hundred metres of the scree. Meanwhile the slope up to the Fortress-Chester col also looked wicked steep, with a broad snow field down the middle. But the scree was clear on either side.
I found the look of the snow on Gusty to be too intimidating, so I descended across the snow field in front of me and crossed over to the east side. I'd decided that Fortress would be a reasonable objective if I couldn't do Gusty.
Wicked steep. The scree wasn't too loose, but it did slide out from underfoot, making me feel like I was going two steps forward and one step back. I'd taken the the left side of the snow field, all small gravelly stuff in a narrow band between the snow and the slab on the flank of Fortress.
All that extra energy I had, I pretty much used up here. This stuff was awful. About two thirds of the way up, the snow had melted down the middle, leaving a crotch of scree. It looked a little less loose than what I was on, and I only had about twenty metres of snow to cross to get to it. I gingerly stepped on the snow.
It was pretty firm, and gave enough to let me get a good footing. I had worried about slipping on the stuff. This slope is better than 45 degress, and I would have picked up an awful lot of speed had I lost my footing. Plus, at the bottom, the snow ended about 50 metres before the slope did, so a slide would have ended with a nasty road rash.
The scree in the middle was a little better, but it was still exhausting working my way up. The slope rounded a little toward the top so that the steepness eased off, but by then I wasn't noticing that. I finally gained the col, and parked on a small rock pile to rest, re-hydrate and re-energize.
After a few handfuls of trail mix, I gathered up and started up. The other side of the col was completely covered in snow, and there was even a small cornice stretching across the top. I had watched another hiker descending toward me as I rested, and I met him a hundred metres up slope.
He had come up the Headwall Lakes side and climbed the snow. The whole valley on that side was pretty snowy, and what was exposed was looking wet and boggy. He hadn't enjoyed the snow much.
After that, it was slog to the top. I was pretty much done from the climb on the scree. The high energy levels I'd experienced earlier were completely gone. I did most of this climb with head down, watching the wolf spiders scurrying underfoot. Occasionally I remembered to look up and look around, and check the GPS for altitude. The summit block seemed small and far away.
As you climb this last three hundred metres from the col, you zig-zag across a scree field bordered by a rock band. When the rock band ends, the slope narrows, with bare slab rolling away to the left, and a sheer drop on the right. The path approaches the drop, and the view is gorgeous. It looks down on the end of the Headwall Lakes valley, and over the col between Fortress and the un-named peak to the east. Past the col is the chalet and other buildings of The Fortress ski area.
Behind, Mount Chester splits the view with Chester Lake a deep blue-green to the right, and the blue Headwall Lakes surrounded by snow fields on the left. And at this angle, the route to the top of Gusty looks not bad at all. It's likely not nearly as steep as what I'd climbed to the col, but that snow field would have still troubled me. It definitely stays on my list.
I followed the trail to the left of the summit block and found the notch to climb to the top. And there I was.
Mount Kidd to the north was mostly bare, and the trail up to Guinn's Pass stood out like marker on paper. Past that, Mount Bogard was free of snow. To the northwest was Gusty, Galatea and The Tower. Straight west and far way, Assiniboine was dark and pointy, with large snowfields across its northeast flank. Directly south, Joffre, another 3500 metre monster, was a broad, smooth, unblemished white. I donned my light fleece to keep out the chilly breeze coming up from the col.
I actually spent quite some time up there, snacking, looking around, checking maps and scanning with the field glasses. At 3000 metres even (my GPS said 3024), Fortress is high enough for some spectacular views.
My legs ached and I felt used up. I wasn't looking forward much to the descent. But I finally packed up and headed down. Scrambling down to the top of the trail, I found that the way I'd come up the last five metres was probably a lot harder to climb than where I found to go down. My trail finding skills need work.
A long trudge downward. About a third of the way down, I noticed a large crowd climbing the snow on the Headwall Lakes side, at least six on the big snowfield, and three or four more coming up beside it. When I was just about at the bottom, a group of six passed on the direct route, while I was zig-zagging to the side. Another couple followed them, and then the guy who mis-directed me to Gusty. At the col, another group of seven more started up just as I reached it. It was going to be crowded up there.
I decided to descend from the col on the other side of the snow field. The first half was loose soil and small gravel, and I covered that quickly. But that gave way to loose rocky stuff that at times would slide treacherously, carrying me with it. On the other side of the snow, a couple were making there way upward. She was scrambling up the slab beside the scree, which seemed to me a little dangerous. Her male companion was trudging up the scree twenty metres below. A troubling thing was that occasionally he would unleash a barrage of rock, that on the slab would gather a lot of speed. I watched the rock rollall the way to the bottom; good-sized stuff that would kill if it hit someone. I hoped he was only dislodging it accidently.
On my side the heavy stuff would also occasionally roll a long ways downslope. Some large rocks bounced on to the snow, where they would eventually plow a trench too deep for them to continue. It was slow going. At the bottom I had to cross a couple of snow fields, and in a couple of places I sank pretty deep.
On the way down the valley, I stayed near the bottom. I had to cross several snow field and a fair amount of flowing water. By now everything ached and I was tired. I finally gained the headwall, and then faced about two hundred metres of descent across rock bands and through forest. At the bottom I crossed the meadow, and climbed a short ways into forest before descending to the lake.
After a short stop to hydrate and snack, I continued on. From here it was a straight trudge to the parking lot, about an hour of plodding through forest and down ski trails. I thought briefly about soaking my feet in the creek that paralleled the first part of the trail and skirted the parking lot, but it was late and I was tired, hungry, and ready to head home.
This one was challenging this time. The scree was a tough climb and a tough descent. And I'd pushed pretty hard at the start.
The Fortress
Starting elevation: 1906 m (6253 feet).
Highest elevation: 3023 m (9918 feet).
Lowest elevation: 1906 m (6253 feet).
Elevation gain: 1117 m (3665 feet).
Distance: 18.1 km (11.2 mi).
Time: 7:56.
# posted by Kelly @ 9:39 p.m. 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
