MOUNT BALL

Mount Ball is best described by some as one of the most inaccessible miserable scrambles in Canada. Located in the Kootenay National Park, standing at 3,311m (10,863 ft) simply put this scramble/trek is a beast.

There seems to be general consensus from reading the few trip reports online that this scramble is an endless bushwhacking nightmare, followed by a tough scramble that leads to incredible views! Ultimately many agree with Alan Kane’s statement that “few who have undertaken the trek would repeat it.”

After reading the few trip logs that exist on this trek I cam across a few favorite quotes that can really sum up this trip.

“Straight hell”
“What kind of God would allow a valley like this to exist?”
“If you want to find your “dark zone” this trip is perfect”
“Trail? What do you mean Trail?”

Although most trip reports summarize how tough and relentless this trek is, I believe it to be a great trek, provided you are both mentally and physically ready for a trip of this magnitude.

Trip Date: Saturday Aug 29 -30, 2015

Trip Report
We started our trip with a 5am wakeup and a 5:30am departure from Calgary, AB. After a pickup of my trekking companions Kris and Stefan Wieclawek we hit the highway and arrived at the Marble Canyon Campground around 8am. A nice lady was quick to remind us that this area is home to 3 tagged grizzly bears and a handful of black bears. Good thing we all remembered our bear spray. Walking down the gravel road we reached the water tower. After a quick look around the water tower we could not find anything that resembled a trail. So the bushwhacking started early for us. A few minutes later we reached the creek and travelled upstream a ways. The views walking up the stream are simply awesome, and there are even some cool bolted climbing spots for all of my climbing friends out there. Upon passing the climbing and reaching the end of the dry area we realized we weren’t paying attention and had to backtrack already.

Finding the actual trail we followed it up to above the high creek walls and began the trek. Over the following 20 Minutes the trail completely disappeared. We followed a depression in the fireweed grass and occasionally saw the odd footprint for the next 4 hours. The direction we took was brutal! We constantly had to go over and under fallen logs, the long fireweed hid big holes, rocks, logs and other tripping/toe stubbing hazards. We heard reports of there being flagging although over the trip to the summit and back we only saw, one piece of brittle faded flag, that 2/3 of us just walked by. As this area was victim to a forest fire back in 2003, and then has been ravaged with avalanches since, this trek has becomes harder and harder to do each year as mother nature reclaims the land and covers what little “trail” there was in the first place.

As we reached the end of the grind that is Haffner Ceek, we hiked up the right side to the upper valley along side a creek flowing from high on the mountain side. At this moment we started looking for a place to setup camp, with water being the primary objective at this point. We were told that there would be running water in the upper valley. An extensive search of the area didn’t pan out well, so we decided to head back to the treed area to setup camp. The earlier in the season you go the better chance of finding water in the bowl of the upper valley, If you wanted to get adventurous you could find a few places of slowly dripping water that a cup/bowl could collect, although the trees and rocks where we camped offered some good protection from the wind.

As we started later than we wanted to and our hike in took longer than expected we decided to setup camp, make some dinner and open some whiskey to prepare for an early wakeup. Luckily we were able to get our tents setup before the heavy rain started to come down. We did have to cook dinner in the rain, although we were able to get a fire going which really helped keep the sprits high. After about an hour the rain subsided, and we settled around the campfire prepping for the following morning. The strange thing about this area was the loud bangs that we kept hearing in the distance throughout the day, we though it could be thunder or rock slides but we couldn’t quite figure it out, until I went to the trees to take a leak. I heard a loud bang and crack about 50 feet away! The Dam Trees’ were exploding!!! Still not exactly sure what causes this although I assume it has to do with the burnt trees from the forest fire combined with them decomposing, becoming brittle and the strong wind. Either way it scared the shit out of me (figuratively speaking of course). After I got my heartbeat under control we decided on a 4am wakeup to get an early start on Mount Ball.

The next think I know my 4am alarm was going off, we had the headlamps on and we were heading for a summit we could not yet see. Getting to the base of Mount Ball, we could start to see the outline and the buttress of the mountain. Being in pretty good shape the long scree route to the waterfall then the boulder field above that I didn’t find to bad, although other tend to disagree with me on that one. As we reached the almost dry waterfall, the headlamps were no longer needed and looking back offered an amazing view of the bowl below us, although the view was partially hampered by the smoke from the forest fires and heavy clouds. When the ridge was reached there were patches of openings were we had some great views but it was nowhere near a bluebird morning. We were able to get some great shots, although I’m still a little disappointed the clouds never fully dispersed. The ridge walk to mount ball proved to be much longer and technical then I initially thought it would be. We later found out that a group attempted mount ball the previous weekend and had to turn around about 150m from the top due to much snow. The final push to the summit was met with heavy heavy clouds with almost no visibility of surrounding mountains and heavy wind. We reached the summit, and my 36th unique summit of the year! A few summit photos later which all looked like they could have been taken at a photo studio with a white backdrop, we started our long decent back to the cars.

15 Minutes after we started our decent, it started snowing. Then it started snowing harder. Then the wind started to pickup. Next thing we know we started the ridge walk back it was snailing (hailing/snowing) with heavy winds. Goggles at this point would have been great! The ridge walk proved to be rather difficult as visibility was limited, the snow/hail hurt when it hit our face and got in our eyes and we had to be more careful with our footing. Pushing forward for 30-45 Minutes we were able to make it to the summit of Beatrice Peak!

We took the alternate long scree slope down that made for a quick escape out of the blizzard that we had been trapped in. A trip back to our campsite to pack up and grab some lunch, refill some water and we were off back into the lower valley to the dreadful bushwhack! To make things more interesting is it started raining heavy again for the next 2 hours. We travelled a lot lower on the way back, keeping very close to the creek, and for myself, spent some time walking through the creek (I was already soaked, so it didn’t seem to matter). We did find at times, what some might call a “trail” although it was so faint, typically is didn’t last more than 50 feet before we lost it again. The days where people can do this trek quickly I believe have past, due to how much the nature has reclaimed the path. Our spirits were only kept alive by my humorous companions, and the infamous Marchuk Mountain Bars.

Reaching the car was a relief for all of us after 2 days of hiking/scrambling. Surviving the harsh terrain, howling winds, the blizzard, the heavy rain and even exploding trees, we were very prepared for this trek. Although at times, it may have been difficult we felt safe the entire time. If you want to one day tackle this beast, make sure you are prepared! From reading the various trip reports, a lot of people don’t make it to the summit. Ensure you are both mentally and physically ready! With that said, I strongly recommend this beast to anyone who is up for a challenge and is ready to put in the effort!