Mt Nomad (2544 m) | Saturday, Feb 12 2022
ACC Ski Summit Series - Obscure Edition
Mt Nomad is a small peak tucked just north of Upper Kananaskis lake. We had seen a few reports of people hiking it, even fewer (one, to be precise) of people snowshoeing it, and certainly none that we could find of people skiing it. A main appeal of this peak -- beyond its dubious obscurity -- is how it sits in a cirque and is surrounded by Mt Invincible to the east, Warspite and Hermione to the north, and Hermione ridge to the West. Thankfully, its south side is guarded by an easily ascended ridge one must go over. With a promise of bomber snow with fast travel, we figured this may be a good outing. After all, the avalanche forecast said "go high and long". So we did.
We met at the interlakes day area at 8:30, and started to make our way on the lake, because the trail was mostly snow free right at the beginning, and as soft as industrial concrete. The ridge itself was easily ascended, bathing in the sun. Upon cresting, it became clear our ski outing was now a ski 'n' scramble, given Nomad was mostly dry. The drop form the ridge was on terrible, wind-scoured hard "snow". After crossing on gravel-littered snow (my poor ski bases), we dropped the skis just above Invincible lake and boot packed through scree and snow to the summit. At least the views were nice. Ephraim had kindly dropped the typical magnum-fireball-weed-but plug summit register box. The one entry over the past year confirmed the popularity of this peak.
Going back up the ridge was a bit painful, with ski crampons being a must. Must have sucked for those that didn't have any. The ascent offered a well rounded variety of skin issues, losing a ski crampon, boot packing, side slipping, being cold in the shade of a North face, and overall character building. The descent was in deep mashed potatoes. Finished the tour with the last bits of sunlight. Overall solid type 1.5 fun. As one trip participant said "it was a good day (and improving in my memory as we get further from it)".
Should you do it? Absolutely (laughs maniacally). With good snow that ridge would actually be fun, and the view were indeed very nice.