| Stuart
Knob - 2850m/9350' |
Scrambling with Ian Cameron
Height gain: 1360m/4465'
Ascent date: Aug 19, 2005
Ascent time: 1:15hrs From Helena Ridge
Comment: Moderate scramble |
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Ian Cameron first suggested
to do Fable and Gap for this Friday's scramble. I thought, since
that he's willing to take 11 hours off his time, I talked him
into doing a 4-peak traverse in Banff instead.
This Banff trip was originally planned to scramble up Helena
Ridge, a traverse to Stuart Knob, a traverse
again to TV Peak, then a traverse
back to Castle Mountain. I chose to do Castle Mountain last
because Rockbound Lake trail would be more appropriate to hike
back to the car just in case we lose the sunlight.
I prepared myself and encouraged Ian in the beginning of this
trip to focus on finishing four summits, but I was the one who
gave up. When I noticed Ian has been constantly waiting for
me at the summit (20 mins on TV Peak), I realized I didn't have
the energy anymore to continue. I've already used-up my last
breath summiting TV Peak but Ian still got a smile on his face.
I could charge this to Gap Mountain
I did the day before, or to :-)_. Whatever the case might be,
it's the reason why we didn't finish-up with Castle Mountain.
On this day we met a couple of scramblers. Chris, on our way
to TV Peak and Blair Armstrong, at the summit of Stuart Knob.
Blair scrambled up Stuart Knob... on flip-flops, and caught
up with us on TV Peak taking a different route... on flip-flops.
On our descent, the three of us took the alternate route and
Blair led us to some fine bushwacking... not on flip-flops :-(.
Our overall roundtrip took 12:45hrs.
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(1) Stuart Knob (left) and TV Peak from the summit of Helena
Ridge. Our next target for the day.
(2) The ridge to Stuart Knob is fairly flat and wide. This
is the point where we spotted Blair Armstrong. He went to
the left of the final ascent, Ian and I went to the right
and scrambled up a gully. |
 
(1) Looking back towards Helena Ridge with Luellen Lake on the
lower left.
(2) This is the gully we ascended. The summit would be on
the left. Ian at this point is already on the summit waiting
for me... for the second time. |
  (1)
1:15hrs from Helena Ridge.
This is Blair. He scrambled a lot back in the days. He educated
us about some history and geography of the Canadian Rockies...
on flip-flops.
(2) We told Blair our plan for the day and he said he would
catch up with us on TV Peak.
We descended straight down towards the west ridge of Stuart. |
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