Mount Totally Awesome View is a fantastic little scramble on the North side of the Terrace Creek Valley near Mount Saskatchewan. I ascended it after hiking in to Terrace Creek with Raff and Allan. Our main objective was Mount Saskatchewan which we ascended the next day. The scrambling on Mount Totally Awesome View I would rate as moderate. But the route I took had a short difficult section.
After Raff, Allan and I had returned from Mount Chephren we headed up to the Big Bend in the parkway for my 3rd attempt at Mount Saskatchewan. Foiled by weather twice before, I was determined to bag this summit. The weather forecast was great and turned out great. We headed up a trail to Canyon River from the bridge over the North Saskatchewan River. This unmarked trail led through the forest with lots of deadfall to a waterfall that can be seen from the highway. It is marked now, since I made a nice cairn marking the start of it. If you follow the old army road beside the North Saskatchewan River from the bridge for about 100m upstream, the trailhead is in a section of the road that goes slightly into the forest for a brief period. There is an old log platform near the trailhead that was probably left by the army. Turn left into the forest at the cairn that I left. Hopefully it is still there. After leaving the forest go right following the trail beside the Canyon River up beside the waterfall. The slope gets very steep and requires some bushwhacking.
On the way up we went into the forest which looked easier at the time. However, on the way out I followed the river the whole way down which was not that bad. Better than the forest. After reaching the top of the forest, we descended briefly back to the river. While traveling along the river you would notice why I named this the Canyon River. It has numerous canyons that you pass by as you approach Mount Saskatchewan. I counted at least 6 canyons, with many waterfalls. Our approach was slowed by the sheer beauty of these canyons, which necessitated taking many photos.
After passing the canyons and reaching the end of the forest we had a scree slope to ascend to reach the North Towers of Mount Saskatchewan. Our destination was the col between Mount Saskatchewan and the North Towers of Mount Saskatchewan, which would give us access to our base camp in the Terrace Creek Valley. Once above the scree slope we plodded across a scree plateau toward the North Towers of Mount Saskatchewan. We stumbled upon a glacier and a lake and had to go around them. The lake was very picturesque, with pieces of the glacier floating in it. We hiked around the lake and the glacier keeping close to the mountain known as the North Towers of Mount Saskatchewan, since the scree was nicer the closer to it you were.
We contoured around the mountain and headed for the col. Instead of angling high and traversing the steep slope to the col, we stayed as low as possible until we were directly below the col where we headed up. The previous time I ascended the col I angled high and traversed the steep hard slopes, which was much slower and more treacherous than staying low. You can't stay right at the bottom as there is ice from a nearby glacier there. You could use crampons on it if the loose chunky scree bothers you too much. If enough people use this route then maybe a trail will be made that would make this section much easier. Helmets would be useful for this stuff.
Once at the top of the col, we had a wonderful view to the West. Mount Bryce and Mount Columbia looked very impressive. Terrace Mountain across the valley looked very nice as well. Terrace Mountain is a pleasant scramble that I ascended the previous time I came here. Mount Lyell to the South was also very impressive looking. On the other side of the col was a huge vertical drop to the Terrace Creek Valley. To get around this drop off you need to head left(South) along the ridge toward Mount Saskatchewan. Go around a small rock outcrop then onto a scree slope on the West side of the ridge that lies between 2 cliff bands. Continue along the top of the scree slope around a short exposed section. You may find some cairns here that I put up on my way out. Once past the exposure around the corner things look a lot better as the scree slope opens up and the cliff band below you peters out. Descend the scree being careful not to descend too soon. Once down the scree slope look for an appropriate camp site if you are camping, as we did. We continued down a bit to a creek that leached out of the ground. The scree nearby was very fine and flat. Perfect for a base camp.
The rest of the approach to the South West Ridge of Mount Saskatchewan follows a green bench of tundra around the mountain past a false ascent ridge. I got fooled by the false ascent ridge the previous time I attempted Saskatchewan. To read about the ascent of Mount Saskatchewan go here.
Once at camp we still had 4 hours of sunlight since it only took us 7 ½ hours from the car to camp. I was still full of energy, so I ascended a nearby mountain to the North which I named Mount Totally Awesome View. This name is a very accurate description of the reward awaiting those who ascend this mountain in good weather. It turns out that I had lots of energy since it only took me 1 hours and 15 minutes to get too the summit from camp. I followed the South ridge which had mostly moderate scrambling with a short difficult section that could probably be avoided. The last difficult section passed a wicked cool rock pinnacle that was at least 2 stories tall. The largest I have ever seen up close. Here is a photo of it for your viewing pleasure.
From the summit, the view was definitely totally awesome to say the least. The North face of Mount Saskatchewan was the coolest feature nearby. Mount Andromeda looked very cool to the North. Too many cool things to mention, but I don't have too, since you can look at summit panorama that I took and see for yourselves. The West summit looked like it might be higher. Since I had some extra time due to my speedy ascent I went up there as well. From there it looked as though the East peak was higher. According to the map the West peak was higher.
On my way back I took a scree gully down the South face between the 2 peaks. The scree was fun and fast until near the bottom where it ended in a cliffband. To avoid the cliffband I had to sidehill it a long way to the East side of the mountain before I could descend safely. The mountain took 3 hours round trip leaving me with 1 hour of daylight for dinner. The next day we went up our main objective Mount Saskatchewan.
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