Mount Abraham is a popular mountain for rock climbers and has a famous rock route up to the summit. The descent route which is also the scramble route is known as "The Endless Scree Gully of Pain". A very accurate name as I found out. The view is excellent aside from the awful and painful brick sized scree that you get to contend with for most of the ascent. You have about 1550m of net elevation gain, however there is a lot of loss and regain in the gully of pain. It took me 13 hours including an attempt of nearby Allstones Peak. Without the Allstones Peak attempt it probably would have taken 10 hours. Below is my full account of the epic ascent.

Mount Abraham was not my first choice for ascent this day. Because of the controlled burns up the valley, I chose to ascend something without a smoky view. So I returned to my previously attempted route; "The Endless Scree Gully of Pain". It was just as I had remembered it, except with less snow and more pain. Last time, I went up too early in the year and waist deep postholing turned me around. This time I went too late and missed out on the nice pain free snow. There was still a good amount of snow left that I was happy to use. The route starts at Abraham Slabs; a popular rock climbing area by Abraham Lake. The trail continues up the gully from there. Because the gully has drop offs you need to ascend the right side of the gully to avoid steep slab. There is a lot of up and down at the start and a lot of miserable sidehilling with brick sized rocks. Once you eventually reach the bottom of the gully there will hopefully be some snow to help you up the last part, which is not short by any stretch of the imagination. The final part is steep and exhausting when you run out of snow.

When I reached the top of the gully, I was greeted by a super strong and cold wind that made me put on my rain coat and toque to warm up. The rest of the ascent was very pleasant. Mostly a ridge walk. Some difficult scrambling with exposure in places. The summit peak looked very beautiful. I had to wait for little while for the clouds hanging on to it to clear up. Once on the top I signed the register, which had no book just pieces of paper in it. It looked like I was the only one stupid enough to come up the gully as everyone else had taken rock routes up. The wind increased in strength and I started getting really cold, so I had to put on my undershirt and rainpants to warm up. This helped a lot, but I was still a little cold.

Once back at the col I decided to give Allstones Peak a try, since it is nearby and higher than Abraham. The connecting ridge had one section with difficult scrambling over rock ribs and some significant exposure. The wind was making me contemplate retreat. After making it across, I had lot of scree to traverse before the ridge started heading up Allstones Peak. I scrambled up to a point where the scrambling looked beyond my comfort level with severe exposure on both sides and difficult moves required. I recommend bringing a rope if you wish to take this route. I would rather take an easier route up Allstones Peak. There are easier ways up that require a longer approach.

I decided to turn around. Not much later a snow storm started approaching, so I quickened my retreat. I managed to make it back to the col before it hit. I waited it out at the col as I ate lunch and tried to stay warm. I had resorted to putting on my scarf and mittens to stay warm. The wind was brutally strong and cold and there was no good place to find shelter, since it seemed to come from all directions.

After it passed I descend back down the gully. The steep section wasn't that bad. The scree was mostly broken shale and not that painful. The snow was heavenly to descend. When I reached the sidehilling the pain really kicked in. My poor feet, those awkward sized rocks were really hurting me. The gully is no quicker on return as you have to go back up the side again to avoid the drop off at the bottom. Route finding slowed me down, since I was either to low or too high up the slope to where I needed to be to cross one of the many steep slab gullies safely.

The mountain itself is beautiful with a great view, but I will never go up that gully again. It really is an endless scree gully of pain. there is another probably longer route up for those who don't want to rock climb or go up the gully. Follow Windy Point Ridge until it connects with Abraham Mountain. Go around the North East side of Abraham up a valley leading to an alpine lake. Follow scree up the opposite side of the "Endless Scree Gully of Pain" to reach the top of it. The rest of the ascent follows the ridge just as I did. I cannot guarantee that this route is better as I have not taken it myself. It looked better and the "Endless Scree Gully of Pain" is about as bad as it gets

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