Distance

4.6 km to summit

10.0 km total

Elevation

1,676 m start

3,089 m max

Vertical

1,820 m gain

Time

4 hr 24 min to summit

8 hr 50 min total

Plan D since the weather was once again worse than forecasted. That's getting pretty old. Took the Kane route to and fro on the west ridge - we walked passed the crux bypass intentionally to "have a look" and then downclimbed the overhang directly. Pretty gnarly to get into it due to poor handholds because of untrustworthy rock on the better holds but once you were "in" the feet were great and the handholds afterwards were bomber if you trend skiers right and commit to the overhang. It's definitely overhanging and definitely not scrambling, but certainly "faster". The 2nd crux was easy enough, just steep but lots of good holds. I went down facing outwards without issue. We had a couple of troublesome spots directly below the summit because of snow but were able to pick a better way on descent. Summit was cold and windy as heck, I don't think we even made it 5 minutes up there. Vis was in and out sadly, but a got a few shots from up there. The descent went very well, we went back up the crux overhang and it was slightly easier on the way up it but I wasn't super stoked to repeat it cause it's inherently risky with certain death if you fall. We then went up Grizzly Peak since the views opened up a bit and I was glad to repeat it. Overall really enjoyed this peak - some great scrambling - challenging, and pretty much no bullshit other than a bit of loose rock in spots. Super easy approach where you gain a huge percentage of the elevation with easy footing. If the weather was nice this would be a favorite of mine I'd say, but the summit experience was pretty shite!! Friggen wind. I think we got somewhat lucky even with the "bust" of forecasts today considering the entire Kananaskis was socked in most of the day. Summer 2019 sucks, still.

Route name

Mount Evan-Thomas 9.1 km route

out-and-back
Obstacles

rockfall/loose rock, snow on route, weather

Key gear

helmet, trekking poles

Other peaks climbed on this trip