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Squaw's Tit attempt 

  • June 29, 2002

Scrambling with Stuart.

We had trouble finding the start point of this scramble, but eventually got underway at 8:00 am. With a compass, Stuart was about to guide us through relatively dense forest to the base of the mountain. From here the steepness of the slope made for an exhausting hike to the skyline ridge. Once on the ridge there was interesting and fun scrambling to what we thought was the harder section described in Kane's book. Unfortunately, it started to rain at this point and we were forced to stop (scrambling up the steep and very exposed ridge would have been foolish on wet rock). We contemplated turning back, but eventually the rain stopped and after waiting for it to dry a little, we tried to continue. To our dismay, we were unable to find the correct route up this tricky section. We tried four different routes, each time having to turn back because it was too dangerous. Kane's description didn't say anything about how to do this section, however, had we looked at the red route line in his book a little more carefully, we would have figured out that we shouldn't have been right on the edge of the ridge.

 

After almost 2 hours of going up and coming down again to the starting point we decided to call it quits. In complete frustration, however, I decided to try one more route, way over to the right. This final attempt turned out to be an easy scramble back up to the edge of the ridge with the difficult section now in front of us. Unfortunately, by the time we made it up (probably still an hour from the summit), we had to head down because of the lateness of the day. Our descent was rapid (2 hours in total) and thanks to Stuart's skilled use of the compass, we arrived back exactly at the point where we had started). A sometimes frustrating, but otherwise enjoyable day and a very good scramble.

 

    
Squaw's Tit

 

    
Heading along the ridge; we stayed right alongside it and came to an impasse up higher

 

    
Stuart providing some entertainment while we wait for the rain to stop

 

    
Looking up at the summit

 

Squaw's Tit  

  • July 24, 2002
  • Mountain height: 2,500 m (8,200 feet)
  • Elevation gain: 1,200 m

  • Round-trip time:  7:45

Scrambling with Stuart.

Unlike our previous attempt, the weather was beautiful and getting rained out was not a concern. Oddly enough, our progress was a little slower than our first attempt. Again, the heat was quite extreme and I had to take frequent water breaks. The somewhat exposed scrambling up to the summit block was enjoyable. There, we were confronted with a steep and dangerous-looking ledge that we had to traverse to make the summit. There was a fair amount of loose rock on the ledge, making it even more precarious. We made it up the ledge without incident, but decided to look for an alternate route on the way down. The surprisingly narrow summit was only a few minutes from the ledge. We only stayed at the summit for a few minutes, as its narrowness did not make for a comfortable eating place.

 

On descent, after a little exploring, we found a much easier route around the difficult ledge and we had our lunch just below the summit block. The rest of the descent was uneventful and even a little tedious and dull. It did jump up a couple of notches on the excitement scale when we very suddenly came across and medium sized black bear on the trail, about 40 meters in front of us.  After the initial shock, we started clapping and making noise and the bear headed off into the woods right away. We continued on the trail (making more noise, of course) and headed right back to the car. The whole "bear" experience was actually quite exhilarating, although I'm sure I would have felt differently if I had been on my own. Overall, I'm glad we completed this scramble, however, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The summit view was nothing special, the bushwhacking at the beginning was annoying, and the route to the ridge was a tedious grind. I enjoyed the day, but I probably won't be repeating the trip in the near future.

 

    
The start of the ridge, with the summit in view

 

 

    
The summit, finally within reach

 

 

    
Stuart ascending the summit block in dramatic fashion!

 

 

    
At the summit, with Mount Rundle behind

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