Aster Lake Peaks 4-8 Aug 2007, Report by David

For several years, I had been looking at climbing the peaks in the Aster lakes area of Kananaskis country. The easiest way seemed to be from a multi-day camp based near or at Aster Lake. In recent years, K-country have made this harder to organise by insisting that you stay at a designated site and pay for the privilege. So, I set up this backpack to be based at Northover Lakes just over the border in BC and found 4 others to join me.

We car-pooled to the Indefatigable car park, where I discovered that I had forgotten the tent poles. So, joined by Terry I returned to Calgary to retrieve them, which meant that we did not reach the campsite at Northover Lakes until 8.00pm. Here we found Damian plus Arnold and Ben set up beside the upper lake ‘under’ Mt Northover. The hike in had taken about 7 hours and included walking around Hidden Lake on a rough trail with much deadfall since the high water level prohibited using the lakeshore. How K-country can justify charging $8/person/night to camp at Aster Lake while doing zero maintenance on its popular access trail, I do not understand, but they do. (note that this is a personal opinion only and does not reflect any RMRA opinion).

On Sunday we traversed Mt Northover by the route suggested by Alan Kane.

Northover's Ascent Ridge

The weather was perfect, being still, dry and not too hot. The crux 5 metre cliff was led by Ben, followed by Arnold and Terry, while Damian and I preferred the top rope protection. Excellent views of Joffre, Northover ridge etc from the summit.


Lunch On The Summit

Mt. Northover Summit: David, Benjamin, Damian, Arnold

The descent was aided by a rappel down a loose gully from a bolt near the summit. With 5 persons loose rock can be a serious problem and the essential avoidance is slow. The return trip was a leisurely 6 hours.

On Monday 06 Aug 2007, we headed for Joffre in good weather. I climbed Joffre about 10 years ago, only to summit in a whiteout. Today, I hoped for views and was not disappointed. We traversed over the glacier, roped and wearing crampons, to the base of the ascent gully on the NE ridge. Here we encountered our first real problem as the glacier ice steeply abutted the rocky ridge. We ascended the 30 metres of dirty ice aided by a couple of ice-screws for protection before scrambling up to the talused ridge where we found a rough trail leading to the summit.

Terry Ascending Joffre

Dave Near The Summit

The route bore no resemblance to 10 years ago when the ridge had been an icy sheet. In 2007, it was just the usual rough talus. Signing the Alberta Centennial register in its flimsy container, we took in the vast vista before returning the same way.


Ben On The Summit

View From Joffre's Summit

About 12 hours return. During the day, it had been quite windy and one person in particular became very excited when he discovered his favourite tent in the water. It floated well and Ben got clean feet retrieving it with minimal damage.

On the Tuesday, after collapsing 2 of the 3 tents we headed for Mts Warrior and Cordonnier. Though this was probably unnecessary, we roped up to cross the access glacier. Mt Warrior was an easy walk up (OT5?) to a fine summit with good views.

Kananaskis Lakes From Warrior

Joffre From Warrior

Mt Cordonnier has a more interesting ridge with one narrow exposed section about 20 metres long over a big slab. I would rate this section SC6 or SC7. The summit was duly reached but we did not linger long due to the cold wind, preferring to lunch and photograph lower down. We returned to the bleak Northover campsite after a 10 hour day. Although acceptable this location offers little protection from the sometimes fierce West wind and no real bear proof food storage. However, we did not encounter problems storing the food either on a lingering snow patch or hanging from a large rock. A wee dram was shared around the camp stove before the tents beckoned around dusk.

We started out early (8.15am) on the Wednesday, with vague ideas of attempting Mt Sarrail on the way out. Fortunately these ideas collapsed with the deteriorating weather. We plodded out reaching the cars about 3.00pm and Calgary about 5.00pm. It was 15 minutes shorter and faster to the parking lot at the SE end of Upper Kananaskis Lake rather than the NE lot ‘under’ Mt Indefatigable.

Thanks to participants Arnold, Terry, Damian, and speedy youngster Benjamin from C & S David for their patience and an enjoyable trip. I’m not getting faster!