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Home»Trip Report Albums»Banff National Park»Cockscomb Mountain (Click to Load Album)

Oh look! A trail from the parking lot. Oh wait! It only goes about 100m before vanishing.Phil leads the way along Ranger Creek.Yeah. This should go on without a hitch... Hint: Don't assume you should stay in the creek bed - especially on the first half of the approach.I hate to admit it but parts of the approach are actually pretty nice, especially with the deep early season greens. They just don't last long enough to matter.See what I mean? Just when I'm getting positive this happens.Lovely Ranger Creek.The old trail running on the climber's left is excellent where it still exists. Very old blaze marks on the trees are also interesting.Aunt Edna would not like this section! I descended back to the creek and ascended loose dirt slopes to the right of this part.The ladder was cool. But only about 10 feet of cool. Then the thrashing started again...About to have a brief moment of "this is worth it". It wouldn't last long!Phil comes up from the narrowing of the creek behind me.A side creek cascades out of a cliff along the route - another short-lived lovely moment.This funky move can only end well. Right Phil?At least we're now gaining height above the creek, looking back at the unnamed summit between Cockscomb and Ishbel. "Cockish Peak"?Now we're in the right drainage. It wasn't the most pleasant terrain and with the col above choked with snowThank goodness we managed to find a ledge system leading up the lower part of the NW ridge from the Kane gully so we could avoid losing height.I had fun scrambling up steep muddy slopes to the NW ridge but trust me - Aunt Edna would be hating life - and you - here.The side hill slopes leading up to the NW ridge proper were extremely steep and wet grass didn't help with the feeling that a slip would be unpleasant.The mountain is well-named! Sonny Bou took the obvious gully to the left of the NW ridge - not a recommended route, especially for dear old Aunt Edna.We followed up on a whole series of stupid decisions with a delightful plan to engage in a horrible side-slipping affair for no reason around the false summit.
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