Reading the description in the Scrambles book, I was expecting a long day on this mountain. The nearly 1600 m gain includes a 12 km mountain bike approach. However, our trip would only take nine hours including nearly an hour spent on the summit.

Dinah is not a strong cyclist so we lost time on the bike approach. Even though I carried 2 l of her water and her bottle of Powerade on the ride up, Dinah's legs often gave out on the steeper sections and she was forced to walk. Still, 860 m of elevation gain on a bike isn't easy.

Despite our sluggishness, we passed three Edmontonians on the road. They started from Whistler campground after surrendering their cars to their wives and kids. The lower start added 45 minutes and 200 m of gain.

At the end of the road, after stashing our bikes, changing our footwear, and chatting with the Edmontonians, we were three hours into our trip. Dinah and I set off up the slope ahead of the Edmontonians but the exertion proved too much for one of them and they turned back before reaching the ridge.

Dinah and I had no difficulties in reaching the ridge. Indeed, a good trail takes you to the crest. We continued along the ridge until boulders forced us to scramble. Sticking close to the ridge afforded the most interesting rocks. Some may find the endless boulders tiresome but I enjoyed the scrambling.

We were busily snapping photos and taking movies as usual but were unaware that Dinah's camera had gone wonky. Only when we returned to Calgary did we discover that most of her photos and videos had colour aberrances. Some of the photos may appear surreal, but it wasn't intentional!

This mountain, I heard, was originally higher than present times but the top was leveled off to make way for a microwave repeater tower. Thankfully, the tower was removed last year and all that remains is a concrete floor. Views are great in all directions although a haze obscured distant peaks.

Soon after reaching the top we were joined by Trent, also from Edmonton, who was scrambling solo. After a long chat with him, Dinah and I began our descent. Trent caught up to us at the bikes and the three of us started riding down. The ride back was fast if rugged and I made it to the parking lot in little over 30 minutes. Dinah and Trent arrived shortly after. The expected high in Jasper was 32° and it felt every bit of that at our cars.

We parted ways but not for long. The following day Trent joined Dinah and I to bag Utopia Mountain.

MOVIE (1:42)
Down path for Google Earth