Victoria Peak

BOU AVENUE
Victoria Peak

Zosia Zgolak and I ascended Victoria Peak in Alberta's Castle Wildland Provincial Park on 10 September 2022. A moderately difficult scramble route via the east face is described in Andrew Nugara's More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, but the approach has now become problematic due to new restrictions placed on the access road as detailed here. Regardless, I had already been contemplating a different approach after reading Nugara's and Dave McMurray's accounts of their combined ascent via the northwest ridge (as pioneered by Robb Schnell apparently). In particular, I was intrigued by their alternate descent route via what McMurray lovingly refers to as "Whitney Ridge", and together with Nugara's glowing endorsement--"In short, this descent route was OUTSTANDING! (the grammatically questionable capitalization of the word hopefully conveys how outstanding it was)."--I was eager to try and ascend Victoria Peak this way. I even managed to convince Zosia to do likewise!

From Highway 507, turn south onto Range Road 20A, 3.6 kilometres east of the junction with Highway 774 or 15 kilometres west of the roundabout in Pincher Creek. Drive 6.5 kilometres and turn left (south) onto Range Road 21A. Drive another 6.6 kilometres to cross a bridge, and reach the provincial park boundary in another 1.5 kilometres. Continue for an additional 2.0 kilometres to reach a junction with a road that is blocked by a locked gate. Park here.

Going past the locked gate, Zosia and I rode our bicycles along the gravel road which goes past a gas well site before crossing a bridge over Whitney Creek. Immediately before a second bridge about 750 metres further, we ditched our bicycles and set off on foot to follow a faint and somewhat intermittent trail running along the west bank of Whitney Creek's southern tributary. We were able to follow the trail for a little more than a kilometre before it completely petered out, and we then grinded uphill through light bush until we gained the crest of Whitney Ridge. From there, we settled into a long and sometimes problematic ascent up the ridge. As promised by Nugara and McMurray, there is no shortage of hands-on scrambling here, but the novelty of navigating the various rock formations and precipitous drop-offs began to wear thin after awhile. Our progress up the ridge seemed painfully slow, and more than once, we dropped off the crest to find less technical terrain to ascend. Once we cleared the last of the complicated sections on the ridge, we were able to mentally relax a bit and just hike up easy slopes to the juncture with Victoria Peak's broad west ridge. Other than having to tiptoe through a stretch of tedious boulders guarding the upper slopes of Victoria Peak, we had no further issues reaching the summit. Astonishingly, the ascent had taken us a whopping six hours, but despite the lateness of the day, we could not resist taking an extended break on the summit to enjoy the fabulous views and weather.

For our descent, Zosia and I more or less retraced our steps down the mountain. Descending Whitney Ridge was just as time-consuming as the ascent although we modified our route to avoid a few troublesome spots the second time around. When we dropped off the ridge crest, we pushed a little too far north of where we ascended and ended up on some uncomfortably steep slopes with a lot of thick vegetation. The bushwhacking was rather unpleasant in a few spots here, but thankfully, it was short-lived. Somehow, we managed get down safely and find our faint approach trail in growing darkness, and the subsequent hike back to our bicycles was trouble-free. The ride back to the locked gate was fast but also quite cold in the dark, and we were happy to turn up the car's heaters once we packed up our gear and drove home.

	Victoria Peak looms in the distance as Zosia rides past a gas well site. The upper part of the ascent route is also visible starting from the snowy ridges at far right.
	After ditching her bicycle just before the second bridge along the access road, Zosia follows a faint trail into the forest.
	"Whitney Ridge", as coined by Dave McMurray, comes into view as the trail begins to peter out further up this valley.

That ridge in the foreground also looks enticing...

Upon gaining the crest of Whitney Ridge, Zosia is granted fine views of Windsor Mountain and Castle Peak.

	The summit of Victoria Peak is about 2.7 kilometres away as the crow flies from this spot along Whitney Ridge.
	Zosia looks back down after climbing up a steep rock band.
	The tilted slabs here require some care and focus to traverse safely.
	Many sections of Whitney Ridge demand good route-finding.
	Zosia drops below the ridge crest in search of less complicated terrain to ascend.

I can't believe how long it took us to get only this far!

Putting the complexities of Whitney Ridge behind him, Sonny grinds up easier terrain. At left in the background is Mount Gladstone, and at far right is Whitney Creek Mountain.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

	The west ridge of Victoria Peak poses no significant challenges.
	Sonny and Zosia relax on the summit of Victoria Peak (2565 metres).

A lot of these ridges are calling my name...

The view to the southeast includes many of the colourful ridges of Castle Wildland Provincial Park as well as the highest peaks of both Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park (Montana).

	Pincher Ridge (left) and Victoria Ridge (right) converge far to the south.
	The striking forms of Windsor Mountain and Castle Peak draw the most attention in this view to the west.
	Here is another view to the northwest of Mount Gladstone (left) and part of Whitney Ridge (centre). The access road is also visible in the valley at far right.
	Prairie Bluff rounds out the view to the northeast.

We still have a lot of work left ahead of us...

On the return trip, Zosia descends to Whitney Ridge.

	Zosia retreats along the crest of Whitney Ridge.
	Sonny carefully makes his way down a steep drop-off along the ridge. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The complex terrain on Whitney Ridge never seems to end.
	Sonny is still muddling along the ridge late in the day. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

I think Dave McMurray has a different name for every one of these bumps!

The late day sunshine really brings out the colours in Prairie Bluff.

Brings back lotsa horrifying memories of late-day bushwhacks!

Sonny inadvertently ends up in some thick bush on his way down into the valley.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Zosia retrieves her bicycle in the dark and is ready to ride back to the starting point.

Total Distance: 20.4 kilometres
Round-Trip Time: 12 hours 4 minutes
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1483 metres

GPX Data