Pyriform Mountain Scramble on 28-Jul-2020
Our trip to Pyriform Mountain could be broken down into 4 distinct sections, after fording the knee-high Sheep River: (1) pleasant gentle trail walk south up Junction Creek's west side, (2) up and down horse trail east of Junction Creek to treeline, (3) side-hilling traverse to below Pyriform proper, and (4) scree plod up through rock bands to the summit.
We started out at about 7:45 by immediately crossing the icy cold Sheep River, then followed Junction Creek in early morning dappled sunlight and growing warmth.
The side creeks, canyons, old sawmill site, cascades, and corrugated horse trail added variety and interest for about 8 km.
After crossing Junction Creek below another waterfall, we ditched our water shoes and headed up the continuing well-defined trail on the east side. Because this is a horse trail, it undulates up and down so it is counter-intuitive to descend to a dry creekbed, rather than continuing upward. Nevertheless, this must be done to reach Pyriform. On the south side of the dry creekbed, the trail goes steadily upward to just before treeline and burgeoning views.
As the trail jogs southward, it becomes less distinct. Sidehilling begins in earnest as sections of scree and larger rocks take over the terrain.
The traverse brought us to a rather mundane view of Pyriform that might be difficult to identify from this angle without a GPS track.
We took different paths up to avoid potential rock-fall hazard. The larger rock and cliffbands were a welcome relief from the plentiful loose stuff we encountered for the next 400 vertical meters. We enjoyed a delayed lunch around 2 pm, under sunny skies and a warm SW breeze.
After spending about an hour enjoying the views (including Calgary in the hazy distance) and identifying peaks, we left the summit to retrace our route back.
The rock is very loose so it was important to find a good way off the summit block and down the mountain.
The descent and traverse section took a couple of hours and we could really feel the late afternoon heat under direct sunlight without the breeze. Nearly ran out of water, but re-filled back at Junction Creek. It was great to be back in the shade heading down the trail. A late day light thunder shower cooled us down nicely for the last couple of kilometers back to the cars.
The total 26 km trip took 12 hours and was a first ascent for each participant, whose company made it such a memorable adventure: Alda,Jack,Marianne. Brian, Coordinator.