Nothing like a nice river crossing first thing... Little stronger and faster than most of would have liked, but a little watery douse of one member quickly dried. A 20 minute hike and we were at the base of the ridge. The lower ridge is low 5'th class moves, and isn't really a scramble. We soon gained the upper slab and a couple of hours of fine scrambling, with many rest talk and eat stops along the way.

We topped out early and some opted to trudge up the scree bump between the south and north ridges while some got really lazy in the warm sun. We started down and were overtaken by a couple of young guys who had trudged up the scree gulley and gone over to Skogan, per Nugara's book. But since it is all about the journey and not the destination, we could only wonder why anyone would trudge up the gulley. Meanwhile, back at the river about 4:00, we found a flow faster and about 20 cm higher. Caution dictated arms linked and we crossed the river without any further incidents. Ealaine broke out the rhubarb cobler for a superb end to a superb day. Thanks to Ealaine, Jeannine and Chau for joining on what is surely one of the finest high end scrambles west of Calgary. Though it doesn't match it's bigger sister, the southeast ridge, for technical difficulty, it far surpasses it for sustained difficulty, and the seemingly never ending series of fun little moves. A keeper!

Jeannine, Chau & Ealaine

NE ridge of Lorette

The inviting warm? water of the Kananaskis River

Yoga stretch on NE ridge of Lorette