 Redstreak
Mountain
- Canadian Rockies
Monday Sept 30 2002
I'm going to write about this mountain from the comfort of a
Starbucks coffee house. The reason I do this now is I was way too
busy on the mountain and when I did have time it was too dark to
see.
The day before
yesterday, Sept. 28, I started off with what I thought was a
reasonable amount of time to complete this difficult scramble. The
guide book I used said 5 - 6 hours.
Initially I had
problems finding the trailhead. The wording in the book is less than
crystal clear. By about 1:30, after an hour of wandering about the
Radium golf course I drove up a gravel road past the golf club house
to the trailhead. You'll see a horse ranch with an old style
overhead ranch gate on your left. Park and head off up the private
road on your right for 100 meters to a ditch and culvert.
The trail then
diagonals north along the hillside climbing until it reaches a cut
line that is the Kootenay Park boundary. Yellow signs mark this
boundary.
When the cut line
tops out after a minor dip you have reached the south ridge of
Redstreak Mountain. Don't drop down into the gorge with the leafy
deciduous trees at the bottom. If you do expect wet vegetated
terrain with much deadfall.
I would visit this place again soon
enough.
Once you are at the
high point of the cut line turn left up the south ridge. This ends
the formal route description except to say that the rest of the way
to the summit involves route finding. Please budget some time for
this, unless you fancy spending time in the dead wood at night. It ain't so bad though, once you've settled down it's down right cozy,
assuming you have the BARE essentials.
Continuing on, the
south ridge turns to the east after a difficult section that I feel
is the crux.
I set off from the
top of this at 3:00 PM after some snacks. When I reached the red
streak I was forced to detour to the left of steep cliffs.
The summit cliffs from near the detour to the left
The slab can be
seen on the left as a short wall just above the middle of
the photo |
|
Mountain Photography
> < The
summit of Redstreak Mountain
The arrow on the left is the ledge, the arrow on the right
is the slab |
Once around these I
was at the final summit, or at least I thought so. Initially I
passed the water streaked rock slab my guide book refers to and
ended up on exposed terrain to the left, near a twisted pine tree.
After looking over the options I decided my day on Redstreak
Mountain was over so I started to slowly down climb, passing by the water
streaked slab on the way.
Well as the story
some times goes I decided to give the slab a try. It was relatively
easy and was not that exposed. The book called this the crux. Hummmmm?
Once above the slab
the first summit was only a few moments away. When I got there I was
greeted by a view of the main summit across a deep notch in the
mountain top.
I decided that my
turn around time of 5:30 PM had passed so I was not going to the
main summit. I took some photos, changed my mind, again, and took off to
the main summit with my camera dangling to and fro from my neck.
After "getting there",
taking more photos and enjoying the incredible view I started back
down the lengthy route with only 45 minutes of sun left and no head
lamp. Uh Oh!!!
I managed to get down
the difficult crux section lower down the ridge before it was too dark to
see, but found myself stumbling through the dark near the vegetated
gorge at about 9:15 PM. It was too dark to travel safely, I had
tripped a few times and also had a tree branch explore the delicate
region at the corner of my left eye.
Mountain Photography
> <
The crux section on the way back down. The sun had set so I
had to brace my camera against a tree to get a clear shot. |
I got angry, yelling
into the blackness, temporarily unaware of my stubborn refusal to
accept and so to deal with my plight.
I flicked my lighter
a few times and found a tree with some dead branches. I broke these
off, made a bundle out of them and shoved some pages from the guide
book into that.
When the fire was
going I was grateful to have found a use for the guide book after
all.
My camp was quite
cozy; I had my heavy pile jacket, a toque, pile gloves, the better
part of a liter of water, a can of sardines in mustard sauce, a bag
of almonds, and the padding from the back of my pack was pulled
out so it un-folded as an emergent bivi pad.
I also listened to some
of my favorite tunes off of my MD Walkman. I also had
my memories of my wonderful life and times to entertain and sooth me.
The light from the
fire gave me sufficient view of the surrounding forest to gather
and break enough wood to supply the fire until about 5:30 AM, when finally I decided to
let it die off.
Two hours later the
rising sun found me coming off the mountain onto a fairway at the
golf course.
How green was my golf course! A young greens keeper with
huge red pork chop style sideburns drove by nodding. That's BC for you.
People out here are so
un-conformist, cool.
 |
|
A panorama
from the first summit of Redstreak Mountain
The suns light
streaks to the earth |
I wanted to take a
picture of my fire the night before, as well as the early morning
green of the golf course but alas I was out of film.
I'll conclude by saying
that although I feel the guide book description is weak and the route
itself a bit gnarly, I must say that my memory of those two days
alone on Redstreak Mountain will be with me for ever. It was s small
mountain but tackling it alone made it an incredible
adventure.
CANADIAN MOUNTAIN PANORAMAS
|
| Mountain / Image |
Java |
VRML |
Jpg |
Size |
30.
Redstreak Mountain
 |
Java |
VRML |
JPG |
331K |
 he
thirst for adventure is the vent which Destiny offers; a war, a
crusade, a gold mine, a new country, speak to the imagination and
offer swing and play to the confined powers.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
 n the cul de sac, so smooth
I look down
Be less sure, sir
And take your rest
It's been much too
long
Since we drifted in song
Lay it down wet
In this hide-away
Oh I traveled far
To the nearest star
And met Palomar, ...mar..., mar...
And we don't care just who you know
It's who you are
And when they all go home
Down the cobblestones
You can double back (spoken "This is it")
To a cul de sac
Mmm
Oh, I traveled far
The nearest star
And Mount Palomar, Palomar, Palomar, Palomar
And we don't care just who d'you know who d'you know
And who you really are, really are
And when they all,
All go home
Down the cobblestones
You will double back
To a cul de sac
You know, you know you will
You will, oh, will double back
And not very far
To a cul de sac
You, you, you... will double back
To a cul de sac
You know, you know it's not very far away
No, no
It's just a cul de sac
And you know, and
you know, and you know... it's not very very far away,
No
It's just a cul de sac
Donn, donn, donn...
You're not very far away, No ohhh
It's not, it's not very far away
It's not as far as a country mile
(You got it)
It's just a cul de sac
Cul
De Sac
Van Morrison
©
CanadasMountains.com + Tim L. Helmer
Friday February 08, 2008 11:21 AM
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