saw bear passing out of campground 7am Elpoca view, 2 pics of Indefatigable, Gap mtn - rising sun 7:15 little Highwood pass parking 8:30 Grizley Col, finished 2nd roll final peak looks difficult 9:00 at peak before main peak, hard SCRAMBLING - handwork, route finding 9:45 easy enough descent 10:25 at car, feeling better, should have done hike to peak Only 2 groups hiking here
Gap Mountain (p152), 82J11, 4-6 hour, Kananaskis, moderate, 2675m, 780m ascent
7am Monday July 15.
7:00 at Elpoca view, 2 pictures of Indefatibable, Gap mtn, rising sun
7:15 Little Highwood pass
8:30 at Grizzley Col, finished roll
9:00 at peak before main peak -> scrambling <- It was about 30 min. of route
finding and scrambling that shook me up enough to make me turn back.
10:30 Back at parking lot - I should have gone to the peak!
Here is a view of the peak from the parking lot. The hike starts by scrambling up
alongside a small stream and scree field from the Grizley Col.
Part way up to the Col and from the Col here are some views:
Once you've crested the col here is a view to the valley right behind it and a view
up the ridge - where you must go to climb the peak.
At this point I'd been scrambling and route-finding for about 30 min. and I was
getting worried about finding my way back down. I decided not to continue to the
peak - even though it would have been easier than what I just did! This view shows
all of the climbing that was left to do.
At this point I've made it thru the scramble and am looking back down. If you know where to look you can barely spot a party of two on the way up. In the 3rd picture you can see then working their way up the rock. Soon they'll come to a part mentioned in the book Scrambles in the Rockies where the author talks about a few rock climbing moves. I barely noticed it! I have done some rock climbing and something that is as simple as a few moves does not concern me. However, I did find that extended bits (30+ min) of solo scrambling did upset me enough to make me back out of a scramble.
