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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
12 Jun 04 |
2:30 |
1:55 |
12 Jun 04 - The weather forecast was for partly cloudy. I guess I was expected better weather.
It was raining when I arrived in the Cameron Lake parking lot, but by the time I got my boots and pack on,
the rain had tailored off to a fine drizzle. This is looking out across Cameron Lake toward Mt. Custer.
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12 Jun 04 - You first need to go up to Summit Lake. The trail starts off by doing lots of long low-angle
switchbacks, then it turns more to the SE and heads to Summit Lake. It's a nice easy trail.
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12 Jun 04 - This is looking across Cameron Lake toward the west. Forum Ridge is on the other side
of the lake. It's a great ski descent to come off Forum Ridge straight down to the back of Cameron Lake.
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12 Jun 04 - Just before Summit Lake, I branched off the trail to head up the SW shoulder of Carthew. You
gain elevation quickly at this point. Here is where I stopped, an hour after leaving the car. Summit Lake
would be somewhere in the fog below.
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12 Jun 04 - Shortly before finding the end of the SW ridge, you find some more challenging terrain.
I wasn't exactly sure which way to go, and I wasn't sure if I would gain anything by climbing up these rocks.
I decided to traverse around this section, but at an upward angle. In hindsight, I should have stayed off these
rocks entirely and just traversed up along the base.
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12 Jun 04 - Soon after that previous section, you end up on the SW ridge. Lots of snow here. You can
see a rather large cornice. The snow was very stable, but the fog was hiding any true danger of a possible
cornice failure. In other words, if the cornice fell, would I go off a cliff or just drop down 10 ft.
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12 Jun 04 - After plodding up a long snowy ridge, I gained some rock. This was like a runway, but you couldn't
see off either side. I was hoping this would lead to the summit.
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12 Jun 04 - At one point, I went around some icy slabs. When I saw this, I knew I wouldn't be traversing
over to Buchanan Peak. There are a couple of downclimbs on that traverse, which would be worse than this. I
would never have guessed that Waterton in mid-June would look like this.
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12 Jun 04 - At first, I thought this was the summit, but then I figured out it was the spot where the SW ridge
and normal route connect. The summit would be a little bit to the north.
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12 Jun 04 - 15 minutes later, I arrived at the summit. I found what I guess is the cairn, but I couldn't find
a register. I had to dig up lots of rocks stacked on top of each other. Of course, I didn't dig very far.
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12 Jun 04 - Still on the summit, the weather was getting worse. My next challenge would be finding my
way back down. This is looking back south, from where I just came.
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12 Jun 04 - Here is more of the SW ridge. Remember... this is partly cloudy.
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12 Jun 04 - Now I'm back at those big cornices from when I first gained this ridge. This time, I climbed down on
this side of the cornice, and traversed the slope toward Summit Lake. This way, I wouldn't have to deal with those red
ledges in one of the above pictures.
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12 Jun 04 - As I dropped in elevation, I was able to break below the clouds. Lake Wurdeman sits in front of
Chapman Peak, which Blair and I did as a day trip on skis. If you look closely at the middle of the picture, you
can see Summit Lake, still mostly frozen.
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12 Jun 04 - Coming back, I took a short-cut to find my uptrack. When I did, I was surprised to find
these grizzly tracks running along beside mine. The grizzly had come from the west side of Summit Knob and
then followed my tracks toward Summit Lake.
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