| Ref: Alan Kane's
Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies |
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En route for Warrior Mountain early morning. |
| Scramble: RT
12.0 (including Mount Cordonnier); 2.75 up from Aster Lake. We woke up
to a frost free, clear morning. Yet another fine summer day ahead of
us. We retrieved our food and once again, we left
the extra gear behind. After hiking around the lake and onto the gravel
flats, we aimed for some snow patches used by previous scramblers.
Their steps offered good purchase on the firm snow. That was useful on
steeper slopes, we didn't have to put on our crampons. The recent
significant snowfall covered the glacier. We continued along the
up-track probing a little; we could see the darkened ice under the
scraped snow. Surprisingly enough, there was a lot of grizzly traffic
on the glacier. Apparently, a sow and a cub have been spotted on
numerous occasions in the area. We saw them on the north side of the
lake, just before leaving this morning. We quickly reached the
Warrior/Cordonnier ridge and easily climbed it near the notch. The rest
of the ascent is just a plod on rubble, we soon stood on the summit. We
took lots of pictures, ate a little and left the lovely viewpoint
towards our next objective, Mount Cordonnier. As we came down the upper
mountain, I couldn't help feeling a bit nervous about the following
part of the trip; airy ridges are not my forte! |
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On the west side of Aster Lake, Mount Sarrail in the background. |
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Along the gravel flats. |
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The flats go on towards Mount Joffre. |
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Starting our climb near a small drainage. |
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Some snow patches have steps from previous teams. |
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Using the snow patches. |
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Good steps in the firm snow. |
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We reach the glacier in good time. |
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More grizzly traffic than human around here! |
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| | Easily attaining the summit ridge at the notch. |
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| | The plod to the top. |
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| | Some slabs below Cordonnier's connecting ridge. |
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| | Quite easy, just one foot in front of the other! |
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| | Aster Lake and the gravel flats, perfect grizzly terrain. |
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| | Xena: Warrior Princess, yayayayaya!!!! |
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| | Mount King George on the BC side. |
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| | Fab with Mounts Joffre and Cordonnier (right). |
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| | Descending to the connecting ridge and our next objective, Mount Cordonnier. |
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| | We follow a sow and cub's footprints along the ridge. |
| | Continue on to Mount Cordonnier |
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