• July 27, 2003
• Mountain height: 2,998 m (9,833 feet)
• Elevation gain: 1,100 m
• Ascent time: 4:15
• Descent time: 2:30

Scrambling with Mark.

Dolomite Peak has definitely just made my list of favourite scrambles and trips worth repeating.

Initially, our pace was quite good as we headed north along a ridge and then northeast up an avalanche gully. Given the lack of instructions from here, we decided to go right up the center of the gully towards some very interesting cliff bands, where the rock was wonderful shades of a purplish-pink colour. Thinking we could scramble up the first band, we didn't rope up. We would regret that decision more than an hour later, when we had only gained about 10 m in height and were now stuck. Mark couldn't go any higher and I couldn't downclimb what we had come up. After a number of futile attempts, we used the small rope to help with the downclimb.

Now, more than an hour behind schedule (we needed to be back in Calgary by 6 pm), we were forced to hi-tail it up the left side of the gully as fast as we could. Although it was quite a grunt, we quickly made it to the base of the summit cliffs, where an interesting and fun traverse took us to the correct ascent gully. As promised in Kane's description, the final 300 vertical meters were definitely the highlight of the scramble. The terrain was steep, however, the horizontally bedded layers of rock (dolomite) made for great foot and handholds, and even though we decided to rope up, I would have felt comfortable without the extra security. Compared to the other "difficult" rated scrambles we've done, Dolomite has very minimal exposure, and that seemed to make it alot easier.

Although I preferred the summit view from Observation Peak (a little further north and 200 m higher), the panorama from the top of Dolomite Peak was still outstanding. Snow and ice laden Mount Hector was stunning, as was the Wapta Icefield to the west. Perhaps the highlight of the view was the other towers of Dolomite Peak. Their rock formations were absolutely breath-taking.

After a very scenic and enjoyable stay at the summit we started down. Downclimbing the terrain was easier than I thought it would be and we made it back down to the base of the towers in good time. From there, we chose to take Kane's advice for a quick descent, going down the gully between the 3rd and 4th towers. It started off with some terrific  scree-surfing. Unfortunately, that was short-lived and we quickly found ourselves on steeper terrain with one drop-off after drop-off another. Most of the drop-offs were short and easy to downclimb. This terrain would have actually been fun to ascend, but the gully to the south (our ascent gully) would have been a quicker descent route.  Overall, an outstanding trip, with some terrific hands-on scrambling.

    
Dolomite Peak, as seen from the Helen Lake hiking trail, enroute to Cirque Peak

    
A steep rock band that caused us a great deal of trouble, stress, and time; we eventually gave up and went around it to the left 

    
Typical terrain on Dolomite Peak - steep, but not terribly exposed

    
At the summit cairn; Bow lake and the Crowfoot Glacier are behind me

    
Looking south, along the fascinating ridge of Dolomite Peak; Mount Hector is in the background center

    
Mark on the final part of the descent, with the entire length of Dolomite Peak behind