Pika Peak - South West Slopes/West Ridge Scramble

Hidden Lake views to Pika Peak.

Sunday July 13 had an amazingly fun day on Pika Peak with John. We biked to near Temple Lodge (Ski Louise lodge) and locked up our bikes. Hiked to Halfway Hut and then up the  standard scramble route on Pika Peak. South West slopes side sloping leads to the Pika/Richardson Col. The West Ridge to the exciting final summit ridge is easy/moderate scrambling. Summit ridge is an exposed horizontal cat walk to the protruding bump of the summit. Exposed, but all moderate/easy scrambling IMHO. Lucky the surrounding rain clouds stayed away and we had calm conditions on the summit. Quick return to Hidden Lake and headed back to the bikes. We had rain for our final 30 minutes of walking and our 10 minute bike ride out was very wet. We were under 9 hours car to car. Super awesome day out. 

John at the Halfway Hut. 

Clouds hanging low on Pika and Ptarmigan. 

Gaining elevation towards Pika/Richardson Col. 

View back to Mt. Richardson as we ascend West Ridge of Pika Peak.

Summit ridge, view to summit bump.

Summit bump.

Final steps.

View to the always impressive Mt. Douglas (to the left) and
Mt. St. Bride (on the right). On my wish list to ascend. 
St. Bride (3315m, 10,876ft) was once thought to be an 11,000+ summit. 

Summit register.

The always impressive Wall of Jericho 

Back to the bikes for the quick ride out.