Going past the hitching post, Zosia and I walked briefly along a double-track heading westward before veering left into a grassy meadow.  At the far side of the meadow, we picked up a good access trail which heads south into forest and winds around the head of a drainage.  The trail then wraps around the end of the north ridge of the easternmost peak of Pasque Mountain East.  Just as I had feared, the trail disappears abruptly in the first of a series of large cut blocks, and it did not appear that any effort was made to restore it.  We simply trudged through the unpleasant slash as best as we could.  Initially, we tried to stay closer to the edge of the forest on the uphill (east) side of the cut block but found the abundant deadfall there to be horrendous.  We therefore dropped lower down the slope where the logging slash was much easier to navigate.  A couple of times, we were able to follow remnants of the trail only to have it disappear again.  Beyond the final cut block, we regained the trail which led us into a basin encircled by the two peaks of Pasque Mountain East.  The trail petered out here, but with a little bit of route-finding, we made our way to the back of the basin where we proceeded to climb up a larch-covered slope.  Originally, I had intended to veer south to a saddle separating the two peaks, but when we climbed higher to get a closer look at some bighorn sheep, we decided to just carry on up to the north side of the western peak.  Though steep in places, this route turned out to be quite straightforward, and we were soon walking easily to the flat top of the western peak.  After a quick detour to check out a rock outcrop further south, we returned to the western peak's summit and stopped nearby for a lunch break.

When we resumed hiking, Zosia and I dropped steeply down the east side of the western peak into the saddle before climbing up the other side to reach the summit of the eastern peak.  We stopped there only long enough to take some photographs and sign the summit register before turning to descend the north ridge.  The north ridge is generally easy to navigate, but there are some rocky sections that need to be either bypassed or scrambled.  For at least one stretch, we traversed slightly below the crest on the lee (east) side both to take shelter from a chilly wind and to get a closer look at some more larches.  As we worked our way down the steep north end of the ridge, we had to be vigilant to find the east-west cut line described by Daffern.  It is not flagged and would be easy to miss in the direction we were going, but fortunately, Spirko's GPS track was helpful for confirming the cut line's location.  The cut line became more obvious as we descended eastward, and we ultimately intersected the same access trail we started the trip on.  Instead of staying on the cut line and taking a short cut as Spirko's party had done, we took the longer way back by retracing our steps along the access trail.  The return to the grassy meadow and our parked car was easy and stress-free.

	Zosia begins hiking along a double-track starting from this hitching post.  The actual access trail begins at an unmarked spot in the forest at the far end of the grassy meadow.  Visible at left is the north ridge of the eastern peak of "Pasque Mountain East".
	A male spruce grouse is perched on a tree branch beside the trail.
	The forested access trail is easy to follow near the beginning.
	This section of trail is blocked by deadfall.
	The trail disappears in a vast cut block.  Visible at right is "Wilkinson Ridge".
	Zosia muddles her way through logging slash.
	Zosia crosses a meadow below a slope of golden larches.
	Zosia climbs past more golden larches.

A herd of sheep look down curiously at intruders into their territory.

 

	Zosia ascends a convenient ramp rising up a steep slope.
	Sonny comes up the same ramp.  Visible behind him is a saddle separating the two peaks of Pasque Mountain East. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia stands atop the lower western peak (PE1; 2466 metres) of Pasque Mountain East.  Note the rock outcrop at distant right.
	Zosia balances on the rock outcrop (2459 metres) south of the western peak's summit.
	Here is the view to the southeast from the top of PE1.

This is looking southwest to the peaks along the Continental Divide.

 

The view to the northwest is both panoramic and far-reaching.

 

	Zosia drops into the saddle separating the two peaks of Pasque Mountain East.
	Zosia crosses the saddle in this view looking back at the western peak.
	Zosia approaches the summit of the eastern peak.
	Zosia and Sonny stand atop the eastern peak (2501 metres) of Pasque Mountain East.
	The top of the eastern peak is characterized by a rocky crest.
	Zosia descends a rocky step along the north ridge of the eastern peak.
	Zosia passes another stand of golden larches while traversing the north ridge.

Here is a look back at the two peaks (far left and centre) of Pasque Mountain East from the eastern peak's north ridge.

 

	Zosia drops steeply down the end of the north ridge.
	Zosia follows a cut line that will lead her back to the access trail.
	Total Distance:  14.9 kilometres Round-Trip Time:  7 hours 33 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain:  703 metres GPX Data