• August 16, 2003
• Mountain height: 2,771 m (9,091 feet)
• Elevation gain: 1,160 m
• Ascent time: 4:40
• Descent time: 3 hours

Scrambling with Mark.

Our choice of many - Hector (mountaineering), Chephren, Carnarvon, Bosworth - was cut down to one by the forest fires in southern Alberta and B.C., that had now smothered almost every area of the Canadian Rockies in a thick layer of smoke. We had never seen anything like it ! Driving along the Trans-Canada reminded me of our white-out experience on Loder Peak, this past May - except for the occasional outline, you couldn't see anything. It was pointless to do one of the bigger scrambles or Mount Hector and so we settled on Mount Bosworth, with the hope that we would be able to get some climbing practice.... and we did!

Taking along most of our climbing equipment (that still amounts to very little), we deviated from Kane's scramble route and basically attacked the mountain head-on. We found plenty of places to do some difficult scrambling and climbing that required use of a rope. It was good fun and on the way we saw some great rock formations resembling turrets and towers. Eventually we did arrive back on the suggested ascent route, but still we decided to take the more challenging ridgewalk/climb (obviously, this accounts for our very long ascent time).

At the crux, a very steep 30 m rockband, we searched for the easiest route, but ended up taking a more difficult one that would have been a very serious downclimb. For descent, we knew we would have to find another way. After almost 5 hours of great hands-on scrambling and simple climbing, we topped-out on a summit that ordinarily would have sported a magnificent view in all directions - Temple, Niblock, Whyte, Victoria, Narao, Cathedral, Stephen, Carnarvon, The Presidents, Field, Wapta, Daly, Paget, Hector, and many more. Unfortunately, even as the clouds cleared, the smoke remained, obscuring much of the panorama.

For descent, instead of using Kane's alternate route that avoids the crux, we tried to find an easier route down the 30 m rockband. We were successful and had many opportunities to use our slings (we actually becoming quite adept with them!). For the remainder of the descent we took the suggested ascent route and found it to be quite straightforward. Overall, a great day of scrambling marred only by heavy smoke from fires that have now been out of control for well over a month - bring on the rain!!

    
Mark doing some exploring

        
Mark atop a large rock pinnacle; hard to believe it was cloudless day

    
Mark at the summit, with Mount Daly in the background