End of Summer Hiking in Glacier

Since this is really the only place that I post pictures (unless specifically requested by friends...) I feel the need to do some "back-posting" now that I have some free time away from school work. 

Eagle Ribs and Mt. Despair
After the weekend of my Lookout to Lookout run, Dad and I drove over to the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park to climb with fellow members of the Glacier Mountaineering Society. The climb, led by our good friend Dell, was to summit both Eagle Ribs and Mt. Despair. Both names led to puns aplenty, let me assure you. 

Fellow climbers in the foreground, Eagle Ribs in the
background on the right. 

We set off early from the Two Medicine parking area, with high hopes of summitting two peaks by the end of the day. About a third of the trip was on maintained trail with the rest following goat trails, not trail, or snow. Our first objective was soon in sight and the summit gained easily. Then we faced a difficult route-finding mission between the two peaks, scrambling among several cliff bands and avoiding steep patches of snow as much as possible. Making our way around the summit block of Eagle Ribs was likely the "crux" of the day and many times we thought we'd have to turn around. Thankfully the feelings of the group was always "try one more approach", "go around the next corner", and "let's see how far we can get".

Scrambling around while route-finding. 

We finally made it through the saddle and onto the snow field our group which had been cause for concern since we had first seen it earlier that morning. The route turned out to be fairly straight forward and the snow not nearly as steep as initially anticipated. We summitted the peak with ease, despairing no more that we would not achieve our two mountain objective.

Summit photo on Despair, our crew no longer despairing
yet still mindful of the long trek back to the vehicles.

We merely reversed our tracks out the way we had come, moving much faster through the saddle and around the summit block of Eagle Ribs than we had that morning. The weather held wonderfully and we made it back to our vehicles right as it got dark to be welcomed back to civilization with chips and salsa! Our leader, Dell, was keeping track of vertical and mileage and it was over 7000 feet gained over 20+ miles if I remember correctly; the second weekend in a row of big miles and lots of vert for me.

Descending the largest snowfield on the return from
Despair. Remember this is July 30th, and we're using
crampons and ice axes.

Mad Wolf Circuit
Gordan Edwards book A Climbers Guide to Glacier National Park has several descriptions of traverses, circuits, and peak link-ups that are worthy challenges for the aspiring mountaineer. In the Cut Bank drainage on the East side of Glacier Park, the Mad Wolf circuit summits three peaks within view of the campground starting point: Mad Wolf, Eagle Plume, and Bad Marriage. The climb begins along the Triple Divide pass trail before jumping off and crossing the Cut Bank Creek along an old Park trail that is no longer maintained (it does happen to be on most topo maps of the area however). We left our sandals in a tree to avoid varmints using them for some mid-morning munchies and bucked the brush periodically while following the old trail. We were rewarded as we left the treeline with a sighting of a group of wild horses mentioned in Edwards climbing guide and a small bull moose! The route to the summit of Mad Wolf was a straight forward scramble and beautiful ridge walk. Though the sun was shining it didn't take long for everyone to pull out their jackets due to the strong winds as can be seen in the summit photo below.

Summit photo with climbing crew on Mad Wolf. 

Our climbing crew, then walked the ridge toward Eagle Plume, ascending the class three scramble to the top in short order. It always amazes me how much ground you can cover by keeping a solid pace, putting one foot in front of the other; particularly surprising on a gorgeous day where you can see for miles and miles. Dropping off the back side of Eagle Plume was not the most enjoyable decent I've ever experienced: a shallow layer of scree on rocks isn't conducive to speed or comfort. We followed a sort of climber's/goat trail once reaching the rock field below that led us to the summit of Bad Marriage. We relaxed on the top for a while enjoying the sunshine and the success of the trip thus far.

Third peak of the day! Lounging in the sunshine on
Bad Marriage. 

The crux of this circuit follows the enjoyable views of ridge walking and peak bagging. We traversed along the cliffs and scree fields on the east face of Bad Marriage and made our way to the stream at the bottom of the cirque. Topographic maps indicate a water fall at the edge of the cirque, thus we knew we'd have to negotiate some cliffs to get back to the trail we came in on. We stopped at a picturesque pool between between some of the falls to filter some water for the rest of the trip.

Filtering water near a beautiful water fall, Eagle Plume
in the distance. 

There is really only one way through the cliff band and down to the valley below. If you cross the stream at a narrow point right above the biggest falls, angle up and to the right heading toward what appears to be the only way around the steep cliffs. If I remember correctly we had to skirt some small trees and scramble down some wet rocks and soil. Don't split up your group without being able to contact each other via radio or cell phone. We got separated and one member of our group did a lot more climbing and walking than necessary. It was also very helpful to have a GPS to log the route on the way in: we followed it's direction and hit the trail again fairly easily.

Ever seen a sandal tree?

We found our sandals again, waded across the creek, and stumbled back to the truck tired from the day but feeling elated and fortunate. The trek was beautiful and a challenge worth facing. The Summit Post article on the climb discourages climbers from attempting the whole three peak circuit because the views from Bad Marriage are the same as Eagle Plume and the trip off Bad Marriage was hairy enough for him not to get back to his vehicle until 1:30 in the morning. Thankfully this was not our experience. I feel like the third peak was well worth the extra effort and with the help of maps and a GPS, route finding back to the campground wasn't extremely difficult.

Alpenglow on the completed circuit.