Observation Peak Scramble on 30-Aug-2024
We had a somewhat wintery day on Observation Peak on this occasion. The weather forecast promised mostly sunny skies and we had hoped that most of the snow that fell two days earlier would have melted, but such was not the case. But the wonderful company easily made up for the less than ideal conditions. Eleven of us left the old gravel road parking area on the east side of the highway at Bow Summit at 9:30 am, and arrived at the lower summit at about 11:30 am or so. We were surprised to see how much snow there was between the lower summit and the main summit, but it was not deep enough to slow us down very much, and we arrived at the main summit at about 12:30 pm. It was quite blustery on the summit, so we had a quick bite to eat, and started heading back down at about 1:00 pm, arriving back at the parking area at 3:30 pm.
Thanks very much to Sim, Gary, Alda, Susan, John, Ulrike, Paul, Gary, Gary, Tatyana for joining me Jack on another great day in the mountains. Thanks also to Ulrike, Susan, and Paul for contributing your photos.
Total time: 6 hours
Total distance: 8.1 km
Total Elevation Gain: 1120 m
Lower down in the gulley, on the way up.
Lower down on the spur, looking across at the Wapta Icefield.
Arriving at the cliff bands.
Higher up on the spur, the lower summit in sight.
Looking across at the main summit from the first summit.
Approaching the main summit.
Lunch time somewhat out of the wind near the summit.
Most of the group on the summit of Observation Peak, minus photographer Ulrike and one invisible person.
The glacier and cornice near the summit.
Climbing back up to the first summit on the way back.
Descending from the first summit, Peyto Lake in the background.
Descending the cliff bands.