Created 20-Sep-20
Modified 20-Dec-23
2020-09-19 | Mount Nomad, Invincible Lake | 2548 Max | 1723 TH | 17.5km | 1296 TA | w/ Peter & David
Almost ten years ago to the day Peter and I had tentative plans for Northover Ridge and a snow storm sidelined those plans and instead we ascended Invincible Ridge and looked down over Invincible Lake and Mt Nomad in its valley surrounded by bigger peaks. On this day we would return and extend the trip to include that area. The trip breaks down into some nicely manageable chunks. First the fireroad along the north side of Upper Kananaskis Lake to Invincible creek. At that point an old road that has been overgrown and littered with deadfall becomes the route. A better trail greeted us here than before, although there were lots of trees to scramble under/over and the undergrowth was wet as it continued to drizzle a little. At a heavily cairned and flagged junction a trail ascended the ridge! What an unexpected treat as last time it was up the slippery slope and over deadfall without such assistance. Last time there were lots of robins congregating here, and there were again today. Funny thing to be able to remember from ten years ago. A first food break at the ridge, where we also saw our first larch of the day. A ramble along the ridge was next before dropping down a scree gully to the creek and then up Mt Nomad – just an easy scramble up some dirt and scree slopes. It was chilly on top, but we took a good look around and had another food break. The whole area screamed ‘grizzly motel’ but aside from scat and some very old diggings we saw no bears. Off the opposite end of Nomad we played in the larch and had a sit-down on the soft alpine vegetation in the almost sun (as it fought with the clouds and smoke haze) – much warmer here than the summit. We crossed along the edge of Invincible lake where I had David contemplating my offer of 30 pounds of apples if he went for a swim. He tried to negotiate dipping his head, pffff. In the end he did not swim (smart) as much as he wanted those apples. Our return I was dreading climbing the scree but we attempted an alternate route and were rewarded with a fine trail angling up the slope thru the larch forest. Pfwa-pfwa!! Sublime! Down the far side of the ridge, hop some logs, and we were soon back at the cars. A fine fine day in the larches!
© Clayton Ditzler
