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| Looking along the ridge from High Park to Greywolf. |
I took advantage of mid-September snow free conditions to scramble around the head of the Dry Lake Creek and link up East Saint Mary, Lowary, High Park peak, and Greywolf. I parked at the Riddell lake trailhead, ran roads to the East Saint Mary trail, and spent the morning in familiar terrain ascending ESM and bumping over to Lowary. I descended to Freeman Pass, and then made the easy scramble to High Park Peak. From there, I covered new to me terrain along the interconnecting ridge to Greywolf. I tried to say true to the ridge, but ended up detouring to the East in several places, notably around a significant tower/notch just shy of the peak.
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| Surprisingly nice fall glissading to Freeman Pass. |
I made a valiant attempt to stay true to Greywolf's Northwest ridge, however I encountered several sections where I couldn't find a solution that was less than mid 5th class. So there was a lot of bumbling around and down climbing. I think that the most expedient and fun route is to climb near the Northwest ridge on the lower third of the face to gain access to the upper face, then follow natural weaknesses trending East across the upper North face. I found the descent along the conventional East ridge route to be surprisingly tricky and slow. Soon enough I was back at the car, full of gratitude for a new adventure in a familiar place. I think that this loop is not as high quality as some of the other link ups from East Saint Mary because of the inefficiencies associated with getting off of Greywolf. However, it is logical, logistically simple, and very much worth checking out.
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| North face of Greywolf peak. |
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| Looking back to High Park peak and the Mission mountains from high on Greywolf peak. |
