Jun 07 24 |
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Hey Kats,
Well, if summer has been and gone in England [Ed. and Wales], it’s certainly happening in the [Ed. Canadian] Rockies. We all know Evan-Thomas creek in winter but here is Mount Evan-Thomas just the other day, climbed by our good pals Everett and Doug. I had been thinking of returning to Europe this summer… but now I’m not so sure…
Hmmm
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Show all locationsEntry for Sunday, 24th June 2007 by
Terry, filed under 
Mountaineering.
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9 Responses to “Mount Evan-Thomas”
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Amazing picture!
What route was it? How high is Mount Evan-Thomas?
So many questions!!!
The height of Mt. Evan Thomas is 3,097m; it is located in Kananaskis Country (~50 km S of Canmore). The route starts at Highway 40. 2 hr on a good trail got us to the col between Grizzly Peak (a popular scrambling destination) and Mt. Evan Thomas. From there, we toiled up a huge grassy / talus slope to the NW ridge, which led directly to the summit via lower 5th class rock and a bit of hard snow (at this time of year; from mid-July until September this ridge is dry). It took us 3 hr from the col to the summit. Rather than retrace our steps, we descended a snow/ice couloir on the SW face; downclimbing short patches of grade 2 ice poorly bonded to the rock was the trickiest part of the day. Descent time: 3-1/2 hr.
Mt. Evan Thomas is one of thousands of virtually unknown peaks in the Canadian Rockies. The probablility of meeting another party on routes like this is minimal. That’s what makes the Rockies so special!
P.S. The prominent peak on the left skyline is Mt. Assiniboine, 3618m — the highest peak south of the Columbia Icefields.
Brilliant!!
Yeah, I thought that was Assiniboine; like I said, amazing picture!
Very special.
Climbing in the French Alps is a bit busy. The lifts are useful, but I could fore-go those for the solitude.
Yeah, I suppose 8-1/2 hrs is no longer and, in fact, shorter than many scottish munro days. And for that you get this amazing solitude plus wall to wall mountain views.There looks to be many rock ridges which have probably never seen the hand of man. who knows what they hold?? Even around canmore, within sight of the road, many of the scrambles have never even been written up, except on everett’s web. There is an established rock climb, ‘Joy’, about 300m up a pure slab/diedre in Kananaskis. But there are another 50 such lines that I’ve seen and are untouched.
Looks like there’s plenty of fun to be had in them thar hills! Terry, are the remaining lines untouched because the rock is very ‘Canadian’?!! Even so, I’d still fancy a bash rather than sitting behind this desk – one day maybe…
Hey Jon, The best kept ‘secret’ in North America is that the rock in Kananaskis is pretty good but that in the Ghost is impecable!!! From what I’ve seen of Kananaskis rock, on the few traditional climbs there are, the rock is pretty good. I think ‘Joy’ received attention because of its eye-catching line (like 10 pitches of ‘F’ route, albeit a bit easier) and relatively easy approach. I think the other candidates could well have equally good rock but people just havent got around to them (yet).
Gotta put my comments in here…
Having climbed on Canadian rock (near Banff) that promptly broke off sending me, via a 30′ whipper, on a six week recovery holiday (whilst my fractured tail bone fixed itself), I’m not sure I’d have the same enthusiasm for Canada’s rock as Terry!
Although I do accept that the rock in the Ghost does “look” (having not tried it out myself) better…
Yeah, I’m afraid that chocstone had your name on it Pete! Grubby hands had pulled on it, kissed it since about 1990. But a week of rain had finally left it loose, waiting for the fateful pull. Too bad it had to be you and not the 2 guys in front on that day. But that was in the Bow Valley and its Kananaskis we were discussing with passing reference to the Ghost.