"East Peak of Wendell Mountain" - Scramble

Headed out to enjoy more of the summer like weather in early spring on May 6. This was an extra special trip since I had the chance to reunite with an old high school buddy. Richard J. and I were great friends in high school and a few years afterwards. We had some incredible times together, usually involving a lot of beer, lots of friends and many, many laughs. As we started our post-secondary careers we lost touch and somehow drifted apart.  I hadn’t spoken with Richard in over 25 years when he connected with me last fall.  Turns out that Richard is also an avid backpacker and scrambler, funny we didn’t find each other sooner in the Rockies.

Even with the warm and dry winter, Richard and I didn’t have the opportunity to get out for a scramble until early May.  After reviewing our lists of summits, and of course we didn’t want to repeat summits, we decided on our objective. Neither of us had been to CMC valley behind Yamnuska (Mount John Laurie). Andrew Nugara’s book describes two scrambles (Wendell Mountain and East Peak of Wendell) in the CMC valley. The description for East Peak of Wendell sounded like there was great rock scenery and options for ascent, so we chose this objective. I needed to be home for family obligations before dinner time, so left town early and were leaving the parking lot at first light.  The drive out had a fair amount of fog along the highway, which cleared when we parked, but nearing tree line on the Yam shoulder, we were treated to interesting views of fog formations in the Bow Valley.

The day warmed up quickly and soon we were descending into the picturesque CMC valley.  Andrew’s description of the “scenic route” along the south flanks of East Peak of Wendell sounded like a good choice, and it was. The rock scenery is impressive; looming canyon walls, tall vertical cliffs and interesting boulder/pillar debris make this lower traverse super enjoyable.  These cliffs (Frodo Buttress, The Runes, Runewall and Bilbo Buttress) provide many rock routes, worth a visit in the future (see Bow Valley Rock by Chris Perry for beta on rock routes).

"Wendell Mtn" left and "East Peak of Wendell Mtn" on right

Great rock scenery

Cool canyon

Cool rocks

Once completing the lower traverse, you arrive at the base of the broad South Ridge of the East Peak. Most of this next section is a mindless loose scree slog, but the descent was soft underfoot and fast. Section of slabs, and a couple of interesting slab/corner sections, provide relief from the scree grind, and then the final south summit ridge is reached. This provides a firm rock ridge the opportunity to get some fun exposure on the way to the summit.  The summit cairn did not contain a register, just a hollow black tube.

Fun slab section

Summit ridge

Summit cairn

Lakeview boys (trouble in the 1980's)

Richard and I shared our first summit with warm sun and great front range views.  Quick descent, with an awesome fast scree run. We found a good trail to the old road in the valley bottom and had less luck with a light bushwhack up to the Yam shoulder crest. Down a more direct trail on the east end and we were back to car nice and early.  Great trip and fantastic weather with an old friend.

Fast descent