Mount Blakiston

July 21, 2007

This weekend covered some of my few days off this summer. I came home from Cochrane to visit Brad, and we decided to head to Waterton for the day to scramble Mount Blakiston. It is the highest peak in Waterton National Park at 2932m.

We started the day a little later than usual, and were set back a little further when we stopped in Cardston. But hey, who can refuse ice cream at 10 am in July?

We hit the Lineham trailhead at around 11. After 45 minutes of hiking we came out of the trees and had our first look at the spectacular Lineham Falls. The falls are formed as water from the chain of 5 Lineham lakes spills over a cliff's edge. From our viewpoint you could see both the lakes and the falls- making for a spectacular view. After a bit of confusion with the guidebook we settled on the right route.

Immediately as you come out of the trees and see Lineham Falls, you must start heading up the scree slope and avalanche path to your right. And while it doesn't appear that this insignificant hill could be the highest peak in Waterton, the full magnitude of Blackiston is hidden at this point. The slope wasn't exactly fun to climb. Wallowing up the thick scree was more like walking on an uphill beach than it was hiking. It took alot of sweat and persistence to reach the top of this scree slope. At that point, we began to traverse the ridge to the left and towards the true summit. We soon arrived the the class 4 gully that guards the summit plateau. Brad took the lead on the neon-green lichen covered black rock. I followed close, and we arrived on the summit a few minutes later. Approximately 3.5 hours had passed since we'd left the car.

The views from the top were spectacular. In one direction you could look south and west over the mountains into the States and BC. Only 180 degrees away, beautiful panoramas out on to the Alberta prairies treated your eye. In classic Waterton style, it was very windy on the summit. We didn't stay for long, and soon set out along the ridgeline to complete the "Hawkin's Horseshoe". The route is a continuous ridgeline that links Mounts Blakiston, Hawkins, and Lineham in a horseshoe shape.

Along the way, we had to navigate a lot more scree. Along the way the scree and rock changed colours, from gold to burgundy to grey to pink. Soon enough, we tagged Mount Hawkins. By the time we got around to Mount Lineham, we decided that it was too late and we were too tired to go for the summit. Instead we descended down the Rowe Tamarack trail and hiked 6 kms along the valley floor back to the Akamina Parkway. After 2 more kms of hiking down the road, we arrived back at the car at 7. It was a long day, and we were hungry for some supper. We'll be back for the whole horseshoe, but next time it will probably be from the opposite direction and at an earlier hour :)