We were slowed a little bit by a large herd of cattle on the road west of Turner Valley being driven to summer range. Despite this very slight delay we were on the trail by 8:30 am. A scree bash got our first peak of the day, Kiska Mnoga Iyarhe(Ram mountain) about 11:00 am. After this it was up some more to the gully I was not sure would be in shape but which had been used to get on the ridge on an earlier Rambler trip. As is often the case the gully looked worse than it was and, with good step kicking snow, followed by some loose steep scree we got on the ridge.

Zoomed photo of Bluerock approach.

In photo above the Red arrow points to ascent gully and Green arrow points to Kiska Mnoga Iyarhe(Ram mountain)


Gully approach to Bluerock mountain from the south

The next concern was to get to the summit and back and off the ridge before any thunderstorms bubbled up. Things looked fairly good to the west weather wise so we hustled along the long ridge getting to the summit around 1:30 pm. It looked like you, maybe, could bail off the ridge to the west in a few spots and you could get off the north end, but going north would be a very long way back to the car. The coordinator had forgotten his lunch. He, fortunately, did have a granola bar and some trail mix in his pack which was welcomingly supplemented by a banana from Damian for a summit snack.

Damian on the final slope to summit of Bluerock mountain.

Damian and Peter summit Bluerock mountain

After a brief summit stay we headed back more or less non-stop until at the foot of the gully for another snack and more generous feeding of the coordinator by Damian. Stopping more frequently on the way back saw us back at the trailhead at 6:00 pm. Concerns over the weather, in the end, were unnecessary with only a couple of very light showers. It would have been nice to linger more on the ridge and enjoy the extensive views - it is a long ridge! Thanks to Damian and Peter for their understanding on keeping a steady pace, Damian for feeding the coordinator and Bob and Sim for the report and photos from an earlier trip to this area which helped a lot - John.

Peter at the south end of Bluerock ridge