Scrambling Photos from Mount Sparrowhawk

June 13, 2010

Mount Sparrowhawk is beautiful easy scramble in the Smith Dorian area and the ascent is described in Alan Kanes scramble guide.

I decided to head up Sparrowhawk on Sunday after having such awesome views on Saturday on Mount Romulus. I figured a weekend this nice shouldn't be spent scrambling completely in the same area and Sparrowhawk had a reputation for awesome views. I wanted to get up it early to give me an opportunity to scramble something else to take full advantage of this awesome weather. I also wanted to whip my body back into shape after the disappointing performance the previous day on Mount Romulus. I started up it at 5 and about 1 hour up I noticed that I forgot my camera in the car. Rather than go up and have no photos of the awesome view I went back down and got it. This cost me an hour and half. It didn't end up mattering in the end as I still got to do another scramble after. It was just a shorter one than I had in mind.

I got up to Read Ridge and the trail was covered in deep isothermal snow. This wasn't going to work so I headed up the steep slope of the North West ridge of Sparrowhawk. There was hardly any snow on this slope and all the snow on the slope was super hard. I got magnificent views when I reached the top of the ridge. I decided to take a full panorama at the ridge since it was so beautiful. The rest of the ascent was very snowy. The snow below the summit block was so deep that my trekking pole couldn't reach the bottom. Fortunately it was good hard snow. I did start to sink in to about a foot in the snow and I thankfully reached another groups tracks which I followed to the summit. I summited at 11:30 and had an awesome view at the top which I photographed of course. Once down from the summit block I had a super fun glissade down the snow slope. I figure that my glissade was at least 500 meters of elevation. I followed the previous groups tracks down to the bottom of the snow slope. Their tracks led me to the other side of Reads Tower than my ascent route. I scrambled onto the slope of Reads Tower to take a shortcut back to the parking lot. I reached the Sparrowhawk Creek Trail after finding my way through cliff bands at the base of Reads Tower

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Mount Nestor and Old Goat Mountain

Mount Nestor and Old Goat ...

Spray Lake and Mount Nestor.

Reads Tower. I avoided the standard route which takes you up beside this ridge. The snow was deep and isothermal at the start.

Reads Tower. I avoided the ...

The view to the South West.

Unnamed peaks on the Goat Range to the North.

Unnamed peaks on the Goat ...

Mount Shark to the South West.

Looking far South to Mount Currie and Red Man Mountain.

Looking far South to Mount ...

A panorama from the ridge of Mount Sparrowhawk.

A panorama from the ridge of ...

Looking North West to the Three Sisters. The Rimwall is in front of Little Sister on the right.

Looking North West to the ...

A subpeak of Mount Lougheed.

Mount Lougheed to the North.

Looking far South to Mount Galatea and The Tower.

Looking far South to Mount ...

Me on Mount Sparrowhawk.

Looking up to the summit block of Mount Sparrowhawk.

Looking up to the summit ...

Looking back to the overhanging ridge.

Looking back to the ...

The summit block of Mount Sparrowhawk.

The summit block of Mount ...

Looking South down Spray Lake.

Looking far West to Eon Mountain, Aye Mountain and Mount Assiniboine.

Looking far West to Eon ...

Looking far South to Mount Sir Douglas on the left and Mount King George on the right.

Looking far South to Mount ...

Looking far South to Mount Joffre in the center.

Looking far South to Mount ...

An unnamed peak nearby.

Mount Bogart to the South.

Heading up the last steep section. Ice axe mandatory.

Heading up the last steep ...

The final walk to the summit.

Wind Mountain to the North.

Looking far West to Eon Mountain, Aye Mountain and Mount Assiniboine.

Looking far West to Eon ...

Zoomed in looking far South. Mount Galatea on the far left. Mount Sir Douglas is the highest peak in the center. With Mount Robertson to the left of it and The Tower in front of Mount Robertson. Mount French is to the left of Mount Robertson. To the right of Mount Sir Douglas is Mount King Geaorge in the distance. To the right of King George is Mount Prince Edward and then Mount Prince John and Mount Queen Mary. Mount Birdwood on the far right. Mount Engadine is in the foreground on the right.

Zoomed in looking far South. ...

Me on the summit.

The summit panorama.

Me on the snow slope just before the awesome long glissade.

Me on the snow slope just ...

Looking South down Spray Lake.

Bear tracks in the snow.

Looking back up to Mount Sparrowhawk. I glissaded down most of this slope.

Looking back up to Mount ...

Please send me any comments, suggestions or mountain/flora identifications ecoulthard@gmail.com