On Sunday August 7, 2011 Andrew Nugara, Rafal Kazmierczak and I climbed Tombstone Mountain (North) via the North Ridge. The majority of the route we took is a walk up, with the final summit ridge providing difficult and exposed scrambling and two short pitches of rock climbing ranging from about 5.2 to 5.5.
This summit is not labelled on the NTS map, Kananaskis Lakes 82 J/11, but a few sources, including Alan Kane, indicate the label of “Tombstone Mountain” is incorrectly applied on 82 J/11. The northern summit at GR401182 is higher than the more southerly peak, the mountain labelled as “Tombstone Mountain” on 82 J/11, and often called Tombstone South. 82 J/11 shows the highest contour on GR401182 as 3000m and on Tombstone South (GR 408167) as 2920m.
Andrew had some old trip reports, we had all read the “Green Book” (Rocky Mountains of Canada: South, Boles, Kruszyan & Putman, 1979) route descriptions, and I had climbed a new rock route on a west rib of Mt. Tombstone back in 2003 (failed to reach the summit because of a raging thunderstorm); so we felt confident about reaching the summit of this obscure peak.
With a causal pace, and success at finding the “Piper Creek” trail, we made reasonable time to the Jerram/Tombstone col (GR 392178) just under 4 hours. The display of wild flowers was exquisite in the upper alpine meadows. I had hoped to ascend the West Ridge route, then continue on to bag all 3 summit pinnacles, and then descend the same gully system I had used in 2003. After our chat at the col, we decided the lower gendarmes of the West Ridge looked time consuming, so we decided to descend to the north, to a nice tarn (GR 391182), have lunch, then bypass the gendarmes by slogging the north-west scree slopes to the West Ridge above these features.
After an enjoyable lunch and scree slog, we reached the mid section of the West Ridge, where moderate scrambling, then difficult scrambling, on poor rock, brought us to the summit ridge.
After an enjoyable lunch and scree slog, we reached the mid section of the West Ridge, where moderate scrambling, then difficult scrambling, on poor rock, brought us to the summit ridge.
The access to gain the NW/SE oriented summit ridge was difficult and very exposed, with poor rock quality and plenty of slab covered with pebbles, good times! Rafal’s excellent route finding skills got us through the exposed slabs to the summit ridge without the need of a rope (good luck finding a solid anchor ;-).
The first section of the summit ridge was more of the same (difficult and very exposed scrambling, with poor rock quality) for about 150 metres of horizontal travel towards the northern most summit pinnacle. Just before the summit, a notch in ridge presented the crux of the route. After attempting a very loose and very scary downclimb, I retreated back to the ridge and set up a rappel anchor.
The first section of the summit ridge was more of the same (difficult and very exposed scrambling, with poor rock quality) for about 150 metres of horizontal travel towards the northern most summit pinnacle. Just before the summit, a notch in ridge presented the crux of the route. After attempting a very loose and very scary downclimb, I retreated back to the ridge and set up a rappel anchor.
We rappelled into the notch. The climb to the summit pinnacle was about 45 metres of slab, then steep ridge, maybe 5.2 to 5.3, with very little opportunity for protection. Once near the summit, I belayed Rafal and Andrew to my lovely exposed anchor just below the summit.
The final summit was a narrow, very exposed ridge, with a few rocks making up the summit cairn; no register or any other summit markers. Since we had taken 10 hours to reach this exposed summit, my original plan to traverse to other two lower summit pinnacles, was obviously not going to happen. Also the travel south towards the other pinnacles was extreme. We did relax a bit and enjoy the unique perspective from this obscure summit before heading down. Considering how long it took to reach the summit, it only took us 5 hours from the summit to the car.
Quick downclimb about halfway into the notch where we set up a rappel anchor, and rappelled back to the bottom of the notch. The up climb back north out of the notch was the climbing crux, maybe 5.4 or 5.5 on thin slab, then dusty choss back to the first anchor. We made quick travel on the summit ridge back to the West Ridge intersection, then decided to descend West Ridge to the lower gendarmes. At the lower gendarmes the Mountain Gods smiled upon us; steep scree gullies lead south back to “Piper Creek”.
Hoping to maximize daylight, we sent a quick pace downhill back towards the Elbow River, crossed the river and made the main Elbow Trail at full darkness. Plod by headlamp and back to the parking lot. All in, a solid 15 hours car to car. A great summer day in the hills.
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