"Piper Pass Peak" (GR390177) - Solo Ski Tour

 

View to Piper Pass from Little Elbow trail.
(South Cat's Ears sunlit pointy peak on left, 
South Tombstone Mtn. on the right) 

Had a fun solo ski day Sunday November 30. Last day the Highwood Pass section of highway 40 was opened, so I thought I should head there. Skied to Piper Pass and then slogged up the little bump of “Piper Pass Peak” (GR390177). 

South Tombstone

Elpoca Mountain behind,
Elpoca Tower on the right.

Morning colours.

View to the south-east aspect of Cat's Ears.
I assume this is where the name was derived. 

November 30 was my 3rd time on this little bump. First time I hiked to Piper Pass was in August 2003, hiked up it then. Second time I have skied up to Piper Pass. Back in 2015 I spent the winter solstice camping near Piper Pass and walked up the peak then as well. My trip in late December 2015 was an attempt to ski/hike up "Little Tombstone" (Janelea Mountain)(GR396213). The plan was to camp south of the pass, then ski north over the pass, down the drainage and hike up Little Tombstone. Skied up highway 40 from the winter closure at King Creek, past Elbow Lake and dug in a warm snow cave on the last flats below Piper Pass. Day two I hiked up the wind blown south side of Piper Pass, but I chickened out skiing down the north side of Piper Pass. It wasn't very safe for a solo skier. Lots of hard wind slab with little support. I did drop about 100m, but chickened out and skinned up, and then hiked up Piper Pass Peak again. Did not write up the trip back in 2015.  

Map of Piper Creek area.
In December 2015 camped south of Piper Pass.

Fast forward 10 years, November 2025 had really good snow coverage in Piper Creek, skied up and down the regular Piper Creek summer trail, a but scary on ski out with the narrow trees! Great Opal Range views from the pass.

"Cat's Ears" (GR382180) - North Summit - West Face, 5.6

"Cat's Ears" (GR382180) - North Summit in centre of photo.
Mt. Jerram on left, Cat's Ear South on right. 
(Photo from July 27, 2025)

Success on North Cat’s Ear! The “Cat’s Ears” are a striking double summit between Mount Jerram and “Mount Schlee” (GR 385168) at the head of Opal Creek. I have always assumed the unofficial name of Cat’s Ears was derived from the view of the south summit from the Piper Creek drainage, two very pointy highpoints. Back in July of 2024, Scott Berry and I summitted the higher southern summit (ear) and we attempted the northern ear in July this summer, but were chased off by a thunderstorm as we were about to the get the rope out. On Saturday September 13 Scott Berry and I reached the exposed summit of North Summit "Cat's Ears" (GR382180) via the West Face. We are assuming we followed the same line as the first ascent team (Frank Campbell and Don Forest, June 20, 1982). Our ascent is the second recorded ascent of this obscure summit. 

Clear day dawning on Mt. Jerram (left) and 
the Cat's Ears (right).

Heading into the upper reaches of Opal Creek.

Damp morning in Opal Creek, view to our objective.

Our third trip in the last 14 months up Opal Creek to the high col between the two ears seemed quite familiar. From the scree of Opal Creek, moderate to difficult scrambling on slabs covered with loose dirt and rock leads to this high col.  Two steep short slabs steps (about 5.6) need to be ascended to reach the col. Just below the col, a gully/chimney between the main summit block and a flake gives access to steep scree below the northern summit. About 120 metres of climbing in the gully (loose scree and a few steep 5.6 steps) reaches a scree bowl below the summit. The summit tower is the most northern high point. A short 5.5 slab climb low on the tower leads to the narrow summit ridge. No cairn or summit register were found. I had brought a new summit register tube and book to leave behind. After some summit smiles and high fives, Scott filled out the new register and I built a cairn. Beautiful sunset colours as we started the complicated descent. We did 5 rappels, using pitons or slung boulders as anchors, and arrived at the difficult slab downclimb in full darkness, yeah! Careful downclimbing and long hike out in the dark was good character building. Amazing day in the mountains with an amazing friend. After this summit, I have 32 of the 35 Opal Range summits.

Off the soft grass onto the scree slog upwards.

Nearing the end of the scree slog.
North Cat's Ear above.

Long section from top of scree to high col between the two summit towers.
Lots of steep slabs with loose rock in between.
Moderate to difficult scrambling with exposure to cliffs below.

When I first developed the goal of my Opal 35 project back in 2011, there was very limited information for many of the peaks in the range. The old Green Book, "The Rocky Mountains of Canada - South" (Glen Boles, Robert Kruszyna and William Putnam) does not have any information on the Cat’s Ears, but first ascent accounts were published in the Canadian Alpine Journal (CAJ). 

Volume 67 of The Canadian Alpine Journal, published in 1984
used the name Cat’s Ear and the two separate titles of South Cat’s Ear and North Cat’s Ear. 

The old “Green Book”.

David Jones' guidebook (2020) "Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1" was years away from being published, and I provided much of the information for the Opal Range section to David. The CAJ write up's are the same descriptions as in the David Jones guidebook. The two short slab 5.6 sections we climbed were below the col, and the access to the long 120 metre gully/chimney was direct off the scree just below the col. 

Route description from David Jones guidebook (2020)
"Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1" 

Base of the second steep step below col.
We pitched it with little protection, goes at about 5.6 R.

Exploring col area, chimney/gully system base 
is about 35 metres below col.

Peek a boo through col, Mount Tombstone across the valley.

View up gully. 
Tight and mostly loose with a few 5.6 steep steps. 

View down gully to Scott at belay station near scree col. 

Scott on a steep step in the gully while
leading up pitch 2 of gully. 

Scott's video from our uppermost belay station (on top of the gully/chimney). I am heading up the final summit block. 

View part way up final summit tower slabs.

Final steps to top of tower.
View north towards Mt. Jerram.

View south from summit ridge.
South Cat's Ear is definitely higher. 

Summit smiles.

Scott's fine art work on the new summit register.

Our entry into the summit register.
Second ascent baby! 

View south to Cat's Ear South Summit. 
Mt. Tombstone to the left with the double shadow of the Cat's Ears.

Summit smiles.
Let's get off this thing.

View back to new summit cairn on top of Cat's Ears North.

View to Scott belaying as I down climb from summit block.
South Cat's Ear behind and Mt. Rae in distance. 

"Cat's Ears" (GR382180) - North Summit - Attempt / East Opoca (GR376159) traverse

July 27 was Scott’s last full day in Alberta and we figured with the marginal weather forecast we would make a Hail Mary attempt to climb “Cat’s Ears North” (GR 382180). We weren’t expecting success when we hiked up Opal Creek in fog and a light drizzle. We pressed on to the Col between South and North Cat’s Ears, but soon thunder and rain sent us retreating to the valley. We decided to traverse “Elpoca Creek Hill”, or as I like to call it, East Opoca (GR 376159), on the way out. 

Cloudy and unsettled conditions as we headed up Opal Creek.

After we chased off North Cat's Ears by a thunderstorm.
Heading over to East Opoca. 

Close up of the summit block of North Cat's Ears.
We will be back.

We were treated to some amazing views traversing the hill and thoroughly enjoying the dramatic lighting. Hard to have a bad day in the Opal Range. 

View to eastern bump on East Opoca

Scott on eastern highpoint of East Opoca.

Hiking to main highpoint.

On the highest point of "East Opoca".

“Mount Sarcee” (’Ripsaw')(GR373253) – South Ridge Attempt. 5.7+

View to summit of "Mt. Sarcee" from upper South Ridge.

Mt. Sarcee is an unofficial name applied by David Jones in the guidebook "Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1" (2020) for this significant peak (GR373253, summit height approximately 3000m) immediately east of Mt. Evan-Thomas. I met with David several times and provided a lot of information for the Opal Range when he was writing this guidebook, he had indicated that Mt. Sarcee was the name preferred and used by local climbing legends Glen Boles and Don Forest. 

View to west aspect of "Mt. Sarcee" from Mt. Hood.
The South Ridge is the right side summit ridge. 

Local hiking guidebook author Gillean Daffern has used the name “Ripsaw” for this summit. Gillean has been writing and publishing trail guides to Kananaskis Country for over 30 years and is the author of the renowned five-volume series Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, first published in 1979.

Gillean’s name was derived from the extremely jagged saw blade like North East Ridge of Mt. Sarcee. This sharp ridge is visible from highway 40. The name Ripsaw was always applied to the highest primary summit of the mountain. Recently, summer of 2025, the GAIA base map (gps website/app mapping platform for mountain activities) now includes the name of Ripsaw and Mt. Sarcee for two highpoints along the summit ridge. Prior to this, the GAIA map only identified the highest summit as Mt. Sarcee. How, or why, two names are now being applied is unknown to me. Where does GAIA get its data? This is one mountain and one summit, there is no need to apply two names to this mountain. 

GAIA base map. There is no need to apply two names to this mountain.
Our camp sites are indicated by red/black triangles. 

Monday July 21 Scott Berry and I started our approach to Mt. Sarcee. The weather forecast wasn’t good. Forecast called for heavy rain and high winds starting Monday night and into Tuesday, but clearing overnight with sunny skies and warm temperatures on Wednesday July 23. Based on this forecast our plan was to approach most of the way on Monday and set up a camp and wait for the clear day on the 23^rd to attempt the South Ridge of Mt. Sarcee. We biked to the Romulus campground, ditched the bikes and hiked west up the West Fork of the Little Elbow River. A good trail exists for a few kilometres, but soon the Little Elbow River washed out the trail and the bushwack begins. Eventually we decided to camp low in the valley and have a campfire and relax, moving camp to the alpine on Tuesday. This section of the valley has many informal campsites, many with fire rings and logs arranged for seating. Near our campsite we found an old, rusted camp stove, very interesting. 

Biking the Little Elbow road.

Old stove near our camp low in the valley.

Pleasant campsite in West Fork of the Little Elbow River.

Light rain overnight Monday, we moved camp to tree line south of Paradise Pass on Tuesday and the rain came went through out the day. We woke up Wednesday, July 23, and the skies were completely clear. Soon we were plodding up a major scree slope to gain the South Ridge proper. On the upper ridge we did climb 5 pitches of steep and loose climbing, up to 5.8, but mostly 5.6, interspersed with sections of 4 class climbing. After 3 pitches of mostly direct ridge crest, we rapped below the ridge to avoid an incredibly loose section of ridge line. First pitch back to the ridge line was fun and fabulous climbing on fossil blob features with prefect cam protection. The last pitch we did was more loose and exposed ridge climbing. Nearing the summit block, we decided to bail since the final section looked to be very difficult climbing and the day was getting late. The upper summit block accessed from the South Ridge looks quite challenging, maybe 5.9+? The rock quality looked more solid, but protection for climbing also looked difficult. 

View south towards Mt. Tombstone, Cat's Ears and other fabulous Opal summits.
Photo by Scott.

Upper South Ridge of Mt. Sarcee.
Photo by Scott.

View to our first pitch.
Photo by Scott.

OSWB leading up pitch 1.
Photo by Scott.

View to Paradise Pass, Mt. Evan-Thomas on left above pass.
Photo by Scott.

Pitch 2 choss. We both attempted to lead this very loose fin, so, so loose.
We both chickened out on it.
Photo by Scott.

Pitch 3, not really a pitch. I led on the right side, east side, of the ridge, below the loose fin.
Just hard 5.8 climbing with no protection. I bailed.
Photo by Scott.

After bailing on pitch 2 & 3, we rappelled below the ridge.
Photo by Scott.

Only fun climbing on the whole trip.
Below the ridge I climbed a 60m pitch on excellent rock, with easy protection back to the ridge crest.
Photo by Scott.

OSWB retreating from our high point.
Last "pitch" on the ridge crest was 4 class and low class 5,
super loose chossfest that we scrambled.
Photo by Scott.

Photo by Scott.

Back to our tree line camp for Wednesday night. Thursday, we broke camp and hiked back to the bikes and enjoyed the quick downhill ride back to the parking lot. Will be back to explore other routes on this obscure mountain. We had an incredible adventure in a remote location, figuring out our own line up the mountain, just what summer alpine climbing is about. 

View to Paradise Pass from camp.

Hiking out.
View to East Face of Mt. Blane.