April 19, 2015; this turned out to be a great Plan B
peak. Eric and I intended to
ascend GR 302516 “Skogan Peak”, but after I attempted to wade the Kananaskis
River twice, both times to above my waist line and still not at the deepest
point of the crossing, we bailed.
“Old Baldy Mountain” was close by and a peak I have been interested in
for years.
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| View to "Skogan Peak" from ascent ridge |
We couldn’t find the short approach described in Nugara’s
book in the maze of trails and roads in the Boundary Ranch area and ended
ascending Old Baldy ridge further south and suffering in quite a bit of
bushbashing and deep postholing.
Once we finally gain Old Baldy Ridge, the snow conditions improved
greatly.
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| Proper ascent/descend gully far left (open few trees) we ascended way right, up big snow patch. |
The flat, plateau like, top of Old Baldy Ridge provided
quick hiking to the base of the West Ridge of “Old Baldy Mountain”. The ridge turned out to be a snow
climb, lots of fun with really nice snow conditions. About one third of the way of the West Ridge there is a cool
big slab, deserves a bolted rock route in my opinion. Fun snow climb mostly straight up the
ridge to the summit, many cool cornice features along the many summit ridges
and high points.
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| Cool big slab on lower West Ridge |
Our descend was about one quarter of our ascent time and
once we found the described shorter approach/return slope, we blasted back to
the car. Great to see Eric and a
very fun and enjoyable 11 hours ish day.
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| Nearing summit |
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| OSWB on summit |