I am not a member of the Ramblers, but if there was any group I would consider joining, this is the one. All of the members I've met have been humble, adventurous, and experienced.
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| My favourite tree in Kananaskis Country |
I had never been to the summit of Wasootch Ridge. The description in the Daffern book made it sound pretty scary, but the fact that it's not even in the Kane book suggested that it was a fairly easy scramble.
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| Second breakfast, with a view to the east, across Porcupine Creek |
Seven of the group of ten decided to take the ridge all the way to the summit. It was quite an interesting scramble. There is only one difficult bit (5m of downclimbing on good holds), and we were all glad for the support and guidance of the trip leader, Greg. Exposure is moderate but fairly sustained, so letting one's mind wander too much is not a good idea.
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| Final climb up to the summit |
We only encountered one other group, a couple of guys with lawn chairs, early on. Otherwise, we had the ridge to ourselves.
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| The summit, looking out west |
After a long break on the summit, trying to identify all of the peaks we could see, the group split into two again. Half the group went back along the ridge (but bypassed all of the scrambly bits via a lower trail in the screen), and the other half dropped down via a gully into the Wasootch Creek valley. The only good thing that can be said about the gully is that I am glad to have done it once, but will never do it again.
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| View further into the valley from the end of the descent gully |
The hike back along the creekbed was not particularly interesting, although it was good to finally see the last climbing areas (Irish Rock, Y Slab, Four Pines, Z Slab).
The next time I do this trail, I will go beyond the summit to a scree slope that appears to go all the way down to the valley bottom.
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