Mt Tyrwhitt
Date Walked: 7th August 2015
Distance: 6.7 miles (10.9km)
Actual Ascent: 2214 ft (675m)
Time Taken: 4.5 hours
After returning from our fantastic road trip to San Francisco in late July, Sarah lost a battle with the 'flip flop of doom' on the stairs and suffered a wicked sprain that saw her almost totally immobilised for the first week and shaky for the second. So nursing/housekeeping duties kept me away from the hills for another couple of weeks and suddenly I've been away for a month; how quickly time passes.
The weather has been fantastic (which always has me champing at the bit to get out) and today was no different. Temperatures were predicted to be in the very low 20's and though cloudy in the mountains, no rain was forecast. With Sarah no longer needing the ice baths for her foot and showing some signs of getting the hang of the crutches, I made breakfast for both of us before abandoning her at home and making my way to the hills. I picked out a fairly short scramble so I could be in and out in a reasonable time but don't let that fool you, Mt Tyrwhitt is a tough little lump rated as a 'moderate' scramble and from the start the steep slopes and transient nature of the rock upon it soon demonstrate why.
Finding the trailhead for Mt Tyrwhitt is a straightforward task, simply follow highway 40 south for 75 km from it's junction with the TransCanada highway to the signed car park at Highwood Pass. The entire route from the TransCanada to the parking area bristles with stunning scenery and time slips by quickly as I take in the now familiar mountains, forests and waterways of this beautiful highway.
I begin today by pulling on the fleece in the chilly 8 degrees of the morning air as I look in almost disbelief at the light snow dusting that fell on the higher summits last night. From the car park I follow the packed gravel trail heading north as I did just a few weeks ago when I made the Grizzly - Highwood traverse. After a short time I turn left onto the narrow trail bearing a sign about braiding, this is where the tourist trail stops and the hiking trails begin.
The weather has been fantastic (which always has me champing at the bit to get out) and today was no different. Temperatures were predicted to be in the very low 20's and though cloudy in the mountains, no rain was forecast. With Sarah no longer needing the ice baths for her foot and showing some signs of getting the hang of the crutches, I made breakfast for both of us before abandoning her at home and making my way to the hills. I picked out a fairly short scramble so I could be in and out in a reasonable time but don't let that fool you, Mt Tyrwhitt is a tough little lump rated as a 'moderate' scramble and from the start the steep slopes and transient nature of the rock upon it soon demonstrate why.
Finding the trailhead for Mt Tyrwhitt is a straightforward task, simply follow highway 40 south for 75 km from it's junction with the TransCanada highway to the signed car park at Highwood Pass. The entire route from the TransCanada to the parking area bristles with stunning scenery and time slips by quickly as I take in the now familiar mountains, forests and waterways of this beautiful highway.
I begin today by pulling on the fleece in the chilly 8 degrees of the morning air as I look in almost disbelief at the light snow dusting that fell on the higher summits last night. From the car park I follow the packed gravel trail heading north as I did just a few weeks ago when I made the Grizzly - Highwood traverse. After a short time I turn left onto the narrow trail bearing a sign about braiding, this is where the tourist trail stops and the hiking trails begin.
I set off at a cracking pace and maintain it through the forest covered valley, rising over the corner of Highwood Peak before dropping back down and circling below Grizzly Ridge as the views behind me open up over the forest. To the right of frame the huge western flank of Mt Rae dominates and in the centre the broken pinnacles of Elpoca Mountain puncture the skies to the north. The green slopes to the west (left of frame) are the flanks of Pocaterra Ridge, a beautiful hike on it's own.
I maintain both my direction and pace on the good clear trail below Grizzly Ridge and I'm soon ascending the long shallow waterfall up to the tarn that sits just east of Pocaterra Cirque. The water level is low compared to when I passed here a few weeks ago, looking across the tarn Mt Rae is now centre frame and Mt Arethusa stands to its right (south)
From the small tarn I head into Pocaterra Cirque where I am greeted by the grassy slopes on the north end of Pocaterra Ridge and behind them the grey wall of rock that is the Elk Range and the towering mass of Mt Pocaterra. The Elk Range marks the continental divide and also the border between Alberta and British Columbia. In the shot below the small white rock on the trial is the point where I turn left toward my target, straight on leads to the ascent of Pocaterra Ridge from the south (I did it from the north end which I later found out requires an additional 150m of ascent) from either end it is a beautiful ridge walk and suitable for almost all abilities.
Turning left on the trail takes me south and soon provides the first view of Mt Tyrwhitt, it's steep early ascent is still out of sight behind the flanks of Grizzly Peak but it's jagged edges begin to tell the tale of the brittle rocks making up the Elk Range.
As I round the corner and climb the terminal moraine that guards the access I hear a shout echoing around the walls of the cirque, a look back brings more shouts of 'waahoo' and similar. Along the final point of Pocaterra Ridge ascent I see a small group of hikers waving a noisy 'hello', it makes me smile and I give a 'waahoo' right back and a two handed wave before continuing.
The source of the 'waahoo' shouts :)
A little higher now and I can see the start of my ascent which begins at the col between Grizzly Peak and Mt Tyrwhitt ahead. The difference in ascent rate is clearly seen in this shot, the initial stage of Tyrwhitt is an absolute grind before a small break then another grind to the small summit. Also visible from here is a nice 'window' about halfway up which immediately became a target for my attention.
I'm still pouring on the pace as I ascend the long drag along western slopes of Grizzly Ridge on the thin ribbon of trail that circles around to the col where a fantastic view of the whole cirque makes the col itself a target for many hikers who enjoy the views and then return the same way.
There are a few options for those wanting to do more from here, directly over the col is a descent to storm creek, this is often used by people with two vehicles, one parks at Highwood Pass and one at the Mt Lipsett 'Day use' car park making a nice 12km route with little ascent. There is also a route to Grizzly Ridge (seen on the left below) which also descends to Mt Lipsett day use; there's a second route to Grizzly Peak which can then be joined to Highwood Peak via the pinnacle ridge (which I did a few weeks ago) and lastly the vicious lump of Mt Tyrwhitt.
The reason I refer to Tyrwhitt as vicious is obvious when I turn around to face the start of the scramble, I'm not squatting in this shot, the rocks here are at chest height as I'm on a small ridge taking rest. Nothing is fixed, every foothold or handhold will detach itself from the base the moment you apply any kind of weight to them. You are forced to maintain a constant 'spread' of weight across all four limbs and gingerly manoeuvre on the unforgiving ground.
From the top of that steep opening stage I can look back down to the col and the two tiny figures there looking up at me (seen here as a black speck in the small grey area on the col) I wonder if they are waiting for me to ascend further before they begin to follow, rocks are raining down with every step and it is absolutely impossible to prevent them from doing so but I need a rest before continuing so I sit and take in the view a while, this is no place to be rushing about.
After resting a short time I get under way again so as not to hold up the guys below, the next stage is a tricky affair with very similar rock conditions and steep climb but now with much further to fall. When I reach the 'window' I had seen from below I stop again and look down toward the col only to see the two guys heading off along Grizzly Ridge toward Mt Lipsett day use area. I decided on another longer rest now as I wasn't holding anyone up.
The window is much bigger than expected and provides the perfect frame for the beautiful backdrop beyond them, I considered a 10 second dash (for the camera timer) to stand on top of the frame but doubted I had the speed. After resting and taking in a bit of food/fruit and water I did climb to the flat area on the left of shot.
The view to the north from this vantage point is stunning, Mt Pocaterra and Pocaterra Ridge in the foreground, behind to the left is the Kananaskis Range, to the right of Mt Pocaterra is Gap Mountain and beside that is Elpoca guarding the entrance to Elbow Pass. Still dominating the right of frame is Mt Rae with highway 40 sitting in front and my hike in through the valley now visible.
From the window I put away the camera and make the final ascent on yet more loose rock, I am constantly accompanied by the clunk, clunk, thud of falling rocks bouncing away down the steep slope, luckily I am still alone on the mountain so nobody is endangered by the stream of debris. When I finally hit the summit at 9429 feet I am knackered and flop down by the precarious looking cairn and take in the view west at last.
The first and most obvious eye catcher to the west is upper and lower Kananaskis Lakes (to the right of shot) Elk Lakes are to the left and the hanging glaciers above them top them off perfectly.
The first and most obvious eye catcher to the west is upper and lower Kananaskis Lakes (to the right of shot) Elk Lakes are to the left and the hanging glaciers above them top them off perfectly.
To the north is a stunning razor like ridge leading to the pinnacle summit of Mt Pocaterra, what a wonderful ridge walk that would be though two cars would be required to complete it in a day. From this side of the summit an ammo box is visible at the base of the cairn so a summit register is available for those crazy enough to scramble their way up here.
The register is also a geocache notebook so I add my usual scrawl but leave the lightstick 'gifts' for the geocaching community. There are a number of pencils and pencil sharpeners too, the best equipped summit box I've found I think.
To the south the Elk Range continues with another delicious looking ridge walk. To the left of the Elk Range is Alberta, Storm Creek still holding a few stubborn snow patches then Grizzly Ridge which leads into Paradise Valley and onto Highwood Ridge which drops down to highway 40, water on this side of the range flows east to a number of locations. To the right is British Columbia where Elk Pass forms a wide superhighway for wildlife before Elk Lakes and the associated Provincial Park leads west to the Height of the Rockies Provincial Park, water on this side flows west to the Pacific.
Directly to the west above Elk Lakes are a series of striking glaciers some hanging wonderfully over the lip of their host mountain. In the zoomed shot below, Mt Joffre is hidden on the right by low clouds and on the far left rain is falling over another much larger glacier.
To the east the clouds break up as they leave the mountains and head out toward the prairies, a dark shadow hangs over Mt Rae and falls south into Ptarmigan Cirque. The wonderful green, brown and grey of the mountains lacks only a sprinkling of white on top to make a perfect picture as last nights sprinkling has already dissipated.
Looking to the south-east the twin ridges of Highwood and Grizzly sit below though the lovely pinnacle ridge between the two remains out of view. Towering beyond is Mist Mountain and the smaller ranges heading out toward the prairies.
A zoomed shot of Elk Lakes and the glaciers beyond has me thinking of a hike out there, it's another area I've not managed to get to yet, there is a hut there for overnight stays ($25) but it would make a nice day hike of around 20km to go and get a feel for the area though as always it joins a list of hundreds of places I 'intend' to do.
A zoomed shot to Elbow Pass shows the jagged edges of Elpoca Mountain standing over Elbow Lake with Tombstone Mountain beyond leaving just enough space for Piper Pass between. Twisting away beyond that, the Little Elbow Trail leads through the beautiful mountains back toward Calgary.
A little wider zoom to the north (Elpoca and Elbow Pass on the right of this shot) shows the humps of Pocaterra Ridge in the centre of the frame protected by Mt Pocaterra to the left. Between the two, Gap Mountain leads a string of peaks stepping back infinitely along the Rocky Mountains.
I could have stayed on top for hours today, such spectacular views all around and perfect weather almost tempted me to take on one of those ridges but realistically I knew I didn't have time and reluctantly set off back down that treacherous rock to the col. On two occasions I had to swing out wide, well off the route I had taken ascending onto some really dodgy ground to avoid dropping rocks on ascending parties. I stopped to talk to a couple of guys at the 'window' and took the chance to have a rest a while before making that last painstaking descent.
I felt relieved when I finally got back to the col, and it is testament to the steepness of this lump that it was almost as much work going down as going up. I genuinely surprised myself by staying upright throughout the descent, I had expected at least two small falls. I stopped on the col for a few minutes once more before making the final charge back along the narrow trail into the valley.
Reaching 2873m (9429 feet) for just 674m (2214 feet) of ascent is due to the starting point in Highwood Pass (the highest paved road in Canada) but Tyrwhitt should not be underestimated it is a beast of a lump and very, very unstable, save this one until you have a good amount of experience and are confident on very loose, very steep rock.
Highwood is a wonderful area with some really outstanding views and such a lovely array of pinnacle like lumps and variety of colour that I could spend months here and still miss much of it. The area closes in winter for bear hibernation so it's availability is reduced but I really do need to make an effort to see more of it this year. For now it's back home to Sarah to get my 'pinny' on and make dinner.
Highwood is a wonderful area with some really outstanding views and such a lovely array of pinnacle like lumps and variety of colour that I could spend months here and still miss much of it. The area closes in winter for bear hibernation so it's availability is reduced but I really do need to make an effort to see more of it this year. For now it's back home to Sarah to get my 'pinny' on and make dinner.