Alpine Soft: GR401125 "Elpoca South"

Summit of "Elpoca Mountain South" and view northward along summit ridge
towards the main summit of Elpoca Mountain.

An interesting day out on August 5 on the most southern high point on the long summit ridge of Elpoca Mountain. Initially I was confused about the location of the summit compared to the route description, but after hiking around the base of the peak and viewing it from a nearby summit (Elpoca Tower), I am convinced the route description is not correct.

North side of Elpoca Mountain viewed from near Piper Pass.
Elpoca Tower is seen in the lower left.
Photo taken September 18, 2016

Elpoca Mountain is a huge and complex mountain, with a long summit ridge over 3 km long with many steep faces and buttress extending off the massive summit ridge. I had the pleasure of ascending this glorious peak by putting up a new route on the north face and north ridge back in 2017, trip report here. Between the main summit and the southern high point, there is a complex and broken ridge line.

David Jones is creating a full new set of guidebooks for climbers in the Canadian Rockies. I have provided David with a lot of information for my small list of new routes and a couple summit first ascents. David's guides are impressive and provide route information for almost every mountain in the Rockies, quite the achievement. Having one day for a solo trip on August 5 (was heading to the rock route "More Cowbell" on the 6th) I had a few ideas, couple of which I decided against because of bear warning on the approach. I chose "Elpoca South" since I had walked by, and viewed this high point, many times over the years.

The route description in the recent guide, Rockies South, states;

67 South Ridge PD+ low-5th 50m

John Martin (solo). July 27, 1999

From the Elbow Pass Trail, ascend the easy south ridge, with detours on the right as necessary, to a lower summit (mostly 2nd-class, with short sections of 3rd-class and slabs). Then downclimb into a notch (steep and exposed, with minimal protection) and continue easily to the higher peak. Ascent: 3 hours.

The photo that shows the route is shown below. Well short story, I reached the high point labeled as "Elpoca South" in the photo. It was easy to get there. There is steep and loose 5th class downclimb required into a notch to continue north, but it would eventually lead to the high point on the photo identified as " 63 ". To reach "Elpoca South" the downclimb is not required. I did most of the downclimb, but above a steep, overhanging section, just above the low point, but it was 5.6 ish and very loose, I retreated since no one knew where I was and I was solo.

Photo from
"Rockies South. The Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada: Volume 1"
Author David P. Jones

On August 21 I attempted Elpoca Tower, but the weather turned on us. September 11 I was successful with an ascent of Elpoca Tower. On these two trips, one must basically circumnavigate "Elpoca South" and high up on Elpoca Tower, one gets a great view of the southern end of the long Elpoca Mountain massif. I am convinced I reached the high point on the south ridge and the sub peak of "Elpoca South".

View to "South Elpoca" from the approach to Elpoca Tower, the high point on the left
is the summit I reached. The summit cairn is visible.
Photo taken August 21, 2020.

View to "South Elpoca" from the summit of Elpoca Tower.
Photo taken September 11, 2020.

View to "South Elpoca" from the approach to Elpoca Tower.
Photo taken August 21, 2020.

Now trip details from August 5; I had a later start than desired since I was debating objectives in the morning and arrived at the Elbow Lake parking lot about 10am. It was already crazy packed and parking difficult; welcome to the Rockies of the 2010/20's; not like the old days. Wasn't sure where to gain the south ridge from the parking lot, was feeling lazy about a bushwack, and since the hike is so short to Elbow Lake, I decided just to hike to the lake and scope out the approach. Blasted past all the tourons and continued past the lake to get the best view of the south end of the Elpoca massif. Had a pleasant chat with two gentleman in their mid 80's out for a hike. They were moving well for such well experienced man.

About half way to Elbow Lake the south ridge of "Elpoca South" is visible.

Long scree slog awaits.
Gained the big scree slope right at the lake shore and headed straight up.

Once at the north end of Elbow Lake, I tried to spot a good line up. I choose a line that was more like the South East Face, below the South Ridge. The scale is small since the horizontal and vertical distances are small, so the names sort of seem too big. Regardless, there is a old avalanche path of scree and boulders that comes right down to Elbow Lake on the west shore. I just started plodding up this slope, as I got a bit higher, the face does get steeper, I chose a line beside a bump of solid rock since it was less loose, above the bump, the face was steep slab with pebbles, but was travel was reason. After maybe 450 metres of gain, I reached the South Ridge proper.

View to Elbow Lake near start of rock bump.

SE Face above the rock bump, view to the South Ridge.

On the South Ridge, view down slope to the rock bump
and Elbow Lake below

View up South Ridge, mostly moderate scramble with some exposure.

Final ridge below summit

Summit cairn on "Elpoca South"

Once on the South Ridge, it was mostly an enjoyable and moderate hands on scrambling to the first high point. There is a couple of exposed sections down the West Face to highway 40, but overall, very straight forward. Once on top, the views, especially towards the main summit of Elpoca Mountain, Elpoca Tower and Tombstone Mountain, were fantastic.

Awesome view from "Elpoca South".
Left side, long, serrated summit ridge reaching to the main summit of Elpoca Mountain.
Right, view the two Tombstone peaks, Tombstone Mountain, north, highest summit, above
Elpoca Tower, and "Tombstone South" most right.

Closer look at Elpoca Tower and Tombstone Mountain behind.

Elpoca Tower in the foreground (success on my third attempt, Sept. 11, 2020)
Tombstone Mountain main summit behind.
The obvious rib, beyond and behind the tower, I climbed on Tombstone Mtn way back in 2003.

Once at this high point, I was expecting to see an obvious gap, downclimb, with a higher summit to the north... well, there is a 5 th class downclimb to continue north, but that other high point is very far away, and not sure it is higher. Confused, I tried the downclimb, the upper part was very loose and maybe 5.3, about 30 metres down, there was a larger rock bay above the last steep section. The view down looked difficult, looked like 5.6 or more, and likely overhanging downclimb to reach the lower point of the ridge. Since it looked so difficult, I was solo and no one knew where I was, I backed off. Returning to the cairn and the high point, I looked around and decided I was on the summit of "Elpoca South" and I should just return to the car. So I did. Quick and easy retreat, beautiful summer day out,