Mountain height:         3155 m
Elevation gain:            1700 m
Ascent time:                6:55
Descent time:              3:40

Scrambling with Mark.

An unusually late appearance of thick haze from forest fire smoke, originating from the southwest, permeated almost every corner of the Canadian Rockies during this weekend. We hoped that heading north might yield clearer conditions, but it did not. Perhaps we should we have embarked on a trip where the summit view was not the primary motivating factor for the ascent. Instead, we gambled that the haze might clear, given a predicted shift in wind direction later in the day. Again, that “roll of the dice” ended up going against us, however, the ascent of Mount Coleman was rewarding in several others ways.

The first pleasant surprise of the day was the beautiful fall colours of the vegetation at Sunset Pass. This scenery helped alleviate our disappointment, as the haze obscured views of stunning Mount Amery to the west. An “off-route” visit to Norman Lake was also enjoyable. The slog up to the col, though not terribly aesthetic, was not altogether unpleasant either, the reward of which was a terrific view of the southern outlier of Cirrus Mountain and Cirrus itself. At this point, some of the 20 odd 11,000 er’s mentioned in Kane’s description, began to emerge on the horizon. Mount Columbia was very prominent, but blended too much into the haze. 

The ascent from the col to the ridge was a “slog” in the true sense of the word – lots of loose rubble and no hands-on scrambling. Once again, however, the views atop the ridge were very interesting, especially a small, castellated outlier of Coleman to the east and the steep Coleman Glacier. A short traverse to the summit was much easier than expected. Even with the haze, the summit view was excellent, though “phenomenal” probably would have been a more accurate adjective on a perfectly clear day.

The best part of the day was an entertaining traverse to the south end of the summit ridge. Here, snow atop the Coleman Glacier had melted back into a beautifully photogenic curve. As well, colourful Pinto Lake was visible from this summit. Unfortunately, a potential alternate descent route did not reveal itself and we settled for returning the same way we came. 

Norman Lake and peaks to the southeast

Mount Coleman, as seen from the environs of Sunset Pass

Fall colours and Mount Amery (right)

Same as above, with Mark

A closer look at Amery 

More colourful scenery 

Making our way towards the objective

Wading through the bush

Getting closer

The west outlier of Coleman

Taking a break; the highpoint seen is the south end of the ridge, not the summit

Mark slogs up scree towards the west outlier

At one of two highpoints of the west outlier, we traversed directly to the col from here to bypass the summit at the left

Mark on a snow patch just before the col

At the col; Mount Saskatchewan to the left, another outlier of Coleman in the center, and the southern outlier of Cirrus to the right

Mount Saskatchewan

The southern outlier (summit) of Cirrus

A tarn below Coleman's outlier

Same as above

On the ridge, looking towards Coleman Lake and Cirrus Mountain (right)

Same as above; peaks of the Columbia Icefield are obscured in the haze at the left

At least Cirrus Mountain and Coleman Lake look good

Cirrus Mountain

The castle-like outlier of Coleman to the northeast

The small dip in the ridge before the summit

Same as above; the Coleman Glacier (left) runs down the entire east face

Mark and the glacier

Mark, with the false summit to the left

Starting along the south ridge; Mount Wilson is the snowy peak at the right

Mark leads the way along the top of the glacier

Same as above

My turn

Same as above

More scenic curves of snow

Almost at the south end of the ridge

Same as above

My turn

Slipping on the way down

Not a repeat photo; this was the second time I slipped, about three steps after the first fall!

Pinto Lake

Heading back up and trying not to fall

Almost there (we left the rope slack to make things a little more interesting if I did slip down the northeast glacier!)

A last look at the beautiful mountains to the north

Mount Wilson

Coleman in evening light

A couple of interesting waterfalls on the way out

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