After our grueling ascent of Mount Cory a week earlier, a more subdued and relaxing hike for this week seemed in order - and for the first 3 hours we got that. For the remaining 7.5 hours, we found ourselves struggling up extremely steep and dangerous avalanche gullies to attain the unnamed ridge east of Commonwealth Peak and alongside Highway 40. It ended up being as much, if not more, physical exertion than the Mount Cory trip.

The weather, although relatively clear in the morning, did not hold and it was cloudy for the remainder of the day. Snowshoeing to Commonwealth Lake was easy and pleasant, if not terribly scenic. The view opened up as we made our way towards the "bump" at GR163287, revealing a beautiful snow-covered valley, backdropped wonderfully by shapely Commonwealth peak. At the col, Pig's Tail, Mount Birdwood, and Mount Smuts came into view, and from there a short hike took us to the summit, for a wonderful panorama of the Spray Valley.The descent back down to the valley was a blast on our Crazy Carpets and obviously took a fraction of the time of the ascent.

Having eyed the unnamed ridge to the east throughout most of the trip, we decided to take a shot at it, ascending one of its numerous avalanche gullies. At first, the ascent was straightforward, albeit steep and physically strenuous. Higher up, however, the grade increased to dangerous angles and after ascending an extremely steep section alongside an overhang of rock (60-65 degrees perhaps), we were unable to get up a short, icy section that would have led to the ridge. We were forced to descend.

From there, we traversed left to try and find another route up. The next avalanche gully looked promising, but once again we were stopped by a short section that was too steep and icy. With frustration setting in, we made one last attempt up a third gully, and thankfully this time we got it right. After more than 3 hours of strenuous up and down snow scrambling, we stumbled onto the ridge in complete exhaustion. The ridgewalk to the summit was very nice and took about 30 minutes.

At the top we had good views of Murray, Smith-Dorrien, Burstall, French, Robertson, Sir Douglas and a glimpse of Assiniboine. With clear skies, the snow dominated panorama would have been surreal. After a brief, failed stint to get to another summit further south along the ridge, we started back, under increasingly cloudy skies and lightly falling snow.

Back at the north end of the ridge, hopefully in order to save time, we decided to descend its east side towards Smuts Creek and the road. The first part of the route looked straightforward, but we didn't know what to expect after that. Using our Crazy Carpets, we descended cautiously (and rapidly!), until the extremely deep snow and trees forced us to put the Carpets away and take the snowshoes out. A long, but easy hike along Smuts Creek took us back to the car from there, 10 and a half hours after leaving. Overall, a grueling, adventurous, and rewarding day.   

    
Commonwealth Peak; the route to GR163287 goes up the slope on the right

    
Mark, approaching the summit of GR163287

    
On the summit of the unnamed ridge; Commonwealth Peak is at the right

    
A potentially magnificent view to the south; Mount Burstall is in the foreground; behind, from left to right, are Cegfns, Murray, Smith-Dorrien, French, Robertson, and Sir Douglas, with its summit hidden by clouds