🏔️ Mount Avens | Decommissioned Trails, Type-III Suffering, and a Perfect Keyhole Escape скачать в хорошем качестве

🏔️ Mount Avens | Decommissioned Trails, Type-III Suffering, and a Perfect Keyhole Escape

🥾🧭🪨⚠️🌧️🌞😏 Mount Avens sits at the far northern end of the Castle Mountain / Pulsatilla massif, overlooking the headwaters of Baker Creek and Wildflower Creek—a remote, rarely visited summit that looks deceptively benign on a map. In reality, Avens is a masterclass in why approach matters more than technical difficulty, and why the word “trail” should always be treated with deep suspicion in the Rockies. This solo day trip was ambitious from the start: a full push from Calgary using the decommissioned Baker Creek Trail, followed by a complex route through a massive curtain of cliffs guarding the upper mountain. The plan relied on optimism, stale beta, and the faint hope that “decommissioned” might mean “slightly overgrown.” It did not. The first few kilometers lull you into dangerous confidence. A wide, obvious trail winds through beautiful forest, complete with fresh cuts and Parks Canada signage—an encouraging start that feels entirely wrong given what was expected. Then, abruptly, everything falls apart. Swamps, blowdown, willows, rain, bugs, and full-body crawling through tangled forest deliver one of the worst approach thrashes imaginable. This is type-III fun, and it arrives early. After nearly four hours of escalating misery, the route finally breaks into Wonder Valley, where morale begins to recover alongside the terrain. Open slopes, waterfalls, dramatic cliffs, and improving weather restore some joy—and with it, the first clear views of Mount Avens. That joy is quickly tempered by the sight of steep, wet cliff bands and a planned ascent gully that looks deeply unreasonable. Plan A dies quietly below the cliffs. Instead, careful observation reveals a line of moderate ledges breaking the lower cliff band. The scrambling here is surprisingly enjoyable—dry, secure, and well within scrambling limits—leading to a rising traverse along the base of the upper cliffs. Route-finding becomes the main challenge, with long traverses beneath intimidating walls that look nothing like satellite imagery. Then comes the moment that makes the day. A hidden keyhole appears beneath a massive, precariously balanced boulder. After confirming it’s passable (and removing pack and camera), the route slips cleanly through the cliffs and suddenly opens into easy rubble slopes above. What had been hours of uncertainty resolves instantly into success. Even better, it turns out this is the same keyhole used by Rick Collier and Reg Bonney 35 years earlier—a rare alignment across decades of exploration. From there, the upper mountain is straightforward. Endless scree and mud slopes lead quickly to the summit ridge, and finally to the top of Mount Avens itself. Views explode across Wildflower Creek, unnamed tarns, Pulsatilla, Protection, Armor, Bulwark, and a long lineup of Banff giants. Clouds threaten, but hold just long enough to savor the moment. The descent retraces the keyhole route without issue, followed by a difficult decision: repeat the morning’s misery or gamble on a faint horse trail. The horse trail wins—and while it offers brief relief, it eventually delivers more blowdown, swamp, bugs, and renewed questioning of life choices. Still, it’s marginally better than the alternative, and eventually reconnects with the good trail for a mercifully fast exit. Thirteen hours after starting, the car is reached—soaked, exhausted, and quietly satisfied. 📷 Trip snapshots 📅 July 24, 2025 🕒 ~13 hours round-trip 📏 36 km total distance ⛰️ ~1,600 m elevation gain 🧗‍♂️ Scrambling SC7- / Class 3 😬 Fun factor: 2/5 (earned honestly) 📓 What this journey captures Why access can be harder than the climb How decommissioned trails lie convincingly The joy of solving complex cliff systems When a single feature changes the entire day Why remote peaks still feel magical Mount Avens is not friendly, efficient, or forgiving—but it is deeply rewarding for those willing to endure its approach and think carefully through its defenses. A long, involved day with genuine adventure baked into every decision, capped by one of the most satisfying keyhole escapes you could hope to find in the Rockies. Full trip report at https://drive.google.com/file/d/15gKp....