Lougheed Peak 2 Direct by West Bowl 5.4

Overview

Mt. Lougheed is usually done as a long two day traverse of the 4 peaks with a 5.4 rating. We had heard that there was a direct route up Peak two which is officially the main/highest peak. This had been done by
various people but no route description in any books.
The idea was to go up the valley on the southwest side of the mountain from Spray lakes into the west bowl below peak two and climb the main peak only.

Approach

Travel south from Canmore on the Smith Dorien Road (#742) aka the Spray Lakes road.

Peaks One to Four of Lougheed from South



Peak One and Peak Two(on right)
Route is on left side of Peak Two in the bowl between the peaks


We parked beside the creek to South of Spurling Creek at N50.972 W115.317
There were cairns and places to park for 1-2 cars. Travel along left side of creek on small game trails and work up to tree line. Ignore the small creek/drainage that comes in on the left. Continue on up to a large grassy
bench which can be followed to the right around a major buttress and into a
large bowl at end of valley. When coming out stay on the bench until
directly above the ridge you came up to avoid slabs, minor rock bands and
excessive sidehilling. Stay high and enter bowl as you pass a buttress on
your left. On the far righthand side of the bowl is a waterfall down a
syncline which is directly below the main peak. Travel across the bowl to
near waterfall.

View of bowl on NW side of Peak two.

Route Description

A 4600 foot(1400m) day with scrambling up to 5.4
Description based on a climb done in August, 1999.

Route Overview Picture


Above is a series of 30 to 120 ft walls and ledges. To get past the
first wall start 100 yards left of waterfall beside a black wet dripping
watercourse. Take ramp up to left for 100-200 feet and take gullies and minor ramps to get up to next level which is large ledge 40 to 50 feet wide against a 50 ft wall . Traverse back to right and up for 70-100 yards to beside the watercourse and climb up a gulley/chimney to the left up to next ledge.

Note rap station and where the water is running to the right.
Above are 2 more walls . Traverse left for 2-300 feet on smaller and then thin ledges which lead around and up to the next large ledge. come back to right(Note there is rap station farther right close to water course which lines up with the rap station at top of chimney) and up a rubble gulley and small ledgesto a larger ledge which is 60 feet wide and along a 120 foot wall.
Traverse right past dripping water to a major 120 ft chimney which exits out at thetop of the wall and onto major scree and rubble and a view of peak 1(distant) and the main peak. Grind straight up and then scramble up a series of rock ribs to the right which lead over the next wall and onto more rubble which leads up to the col. The other side of the col which is the front NE face is vertical and you can look down to highway 1 and Deadman's Flats and Canmore.


To the right the ridge leads up to NW face of the main peak( 4-500 vertical feet). Bypass small walls to the right or climb over various small weaknesses by moving back and forth across the face. Bad rubbly rock made harder with scattered snow and ice. The face sees little sun and even the recent warm temperatures had not cleared the latest snowfall. Near top climb up a harder 15 ft wall to 10 foot wide ledge/ramp that runs to left up to the NE face. Climb a 20 ft chimney(5.4) and out onto easier ground and onto the top.

Great views of Joffre and Sir Douglas to the South, Assiniboine,
Goodsirs, Temple and all the way to the Wapta Icefields in the North. Long grind up which took 7 and 1/2 hours despite not using the rope.

Descent
Retrace the route and downclimb or use rappels. We did rap 3 -4 times and backed up the old pins with slings or a second pin. It took just as long to get down due to poor downclimbing conditions and the long hike out especially the headlamp work down through the trees.

Peak Two from Peak One in spring.

Essential Gear

Helmet, harness, rope and boots.
We carried a reduced set of nuts and tricams and 2 cams(1 and 2 inches) but did not use anything on the way up.
I carried a hammer and 2 knife blades, 2 angles and 2 lost arrows since the route was unknown. Limestone frequently only has thin cracks to work with and the freeze/thaw cycle will loosen existing pins.

External Links

Current public safety information including fire bans, flooding, park construction, wildlife issues and avalanche reports

Alberta Parks Public Safety

>Kananaskis Country

Images

View Lougheed Peak 2 Direct by West Bowl 5.4 Image Gallery - 5 Images