Another great day in the Rockies. Arnold, Peter and Gary joined me for this scramble.

I decided to take my favorite route up Old Baldy - that of following the SW ridge. This can be accessed as follows. Shortly after starting up the creek from the Evans-Thomas road, head up to the left through the trees and upward to the ridge. Initially, some deadfall is encountered, but after a hundred vertical meters, an animal trail is encountered. This trail is fairly continuous although you encounter a boulder field (relatively stable), part way up. If you lose the trail, it is best to move right to the cliffy edge of the ridge where the trail avoids the bush.

The ridge provides great views and many flowers, including cinquefoils, Forget-Me-Nots, fleabanes, kittentails, shooting stars, Western Saxifrage and even a large number of Pasque Flowers still at their prime.

After a stop in the col, we headed up Old Baldy Mountain. The ridge was basically dry with a small strip of snow along the ridgetop.

It was windy on Old Baldy, and windier on the peak. The sun was warm, though, and if you stayed down out of the wind it was warm enough.

The views were great, with Joffre visible in the south, Assiniboine in the west, Temple in the NW and Costigan in the north. This is a great view peak, especially for it's height of 9000 ft / 2745 m.

After a good break on the peak, we headed down the ridge towards the col, and down to the lake. We followed the trail down the creek, which was in good shape, back to the car.

Bill C/S