Mount Galatea Scramble

Lat/Lon: 50.83°N, 115.27°W
Mount Galatea belongs to the long Kananaskis Range located just north of
Kananaskis Lakes in the center of Kananaskis Country, a provincial park which
encompasses over 4,000 square kilometers of foothills and mountains bordering
Banff National Park in the central Canadian Rockies.   Mount Galatea shares the
range with many other climbs including: Gusty Peak, Mount Engadine, The Fortress,
Mount Chester and Mount Lawson.

Mount Galatea was officially named in 1922 after a WWI battleship, typical of peaks
in this section of Kananaskis. The first ascent was made in 1930 by Gardiner
and Feuz. The only published route up Galatea is the difficult scramble. Mount
Galatea does not see near the traffic as the easier and more common objectives
of The Fortress and Mount Chester using the same trailhead for their approach. Its
south slopes are steep and avalanche danger is high most of the year. Many
consider Galatea more of a light mountaineering objective.

At 10,500’, the views are far reaching in this section of Kananaskis. Directly
southwest you have uninterrupted views of Mount Sir Douglas along with its group
and to the north Mount Bogart sticks out among many peaks. If you take your time
and bring your map(s), you could spend some quality time identifying peaks from the
summit. It can still be windy and cold in mid-August however.

Getting There
From the Canmore Nordic Center, drive 40kms+/- south on the Spray Lakes/Smith
Dorrien Road (gravel). Turn left at a sign for the Chester Lake day use parking lot.
You are guaranteed mountain sheep on the Spray Lakes Road (I saw two rams this
particular morning) and if you are lucky as I was this outing, a moose or two.   I
witnessed a moose and her calf cross the road about 3kms past Goat Creek Trail.
I saw this same female without a calf two years ago. Watch for hazardous rock fall on
the switchbacks above Canmore. At times this road will be closed due to rock and/or
mud slides. There are restrooms at the Chester Lake day use parking lot.

Red Tape
There are no permit requirements to enter, climb and/or park in Kananaskis
Provincial Park. This is active grizzly country however. Take bear spray. There have
been numerous 2005 trail closures in Kananaskis due to mountain lions and
grizzlies. Therefore it would be prudent to check recent notices posted on the park’s
website. The park headquarters is actually located on Highway 40 (Kananaskis Trail).

When To Climb
As with most climbs in the Canadian Rockies, the driest time is from June through
September. I did Mount Galatea in August, 2005 and the route had two feet of fresh
snow for the last 2500’ of ascent. In any regard, the south face slopes of Mount
Galatea should be respected as a mountaineering objective versus a scramble.
There are no published backcountry ski routes on Mount Galatea, but I could
envision a line following the route I used under prime snow conditions which could
be rare and you would not reach the final summit on skis. This is a steep slope, but
skiers left descent could be interesting.

Camping
The closest camping is located back at the north end of Spray Lakes Reservoir
across the damn at random campsites marked on the west shore of the lake. You
cannot camp outside of the marked specific camping areas in Kananaskis. Refer to
the Kananaskis Provincial Park website for more information regarding camping
and/or lodging. A premium accommodation is the Engadine Lodge (back at Mount
Shark Road) which is only several kilometers north.

Mountain Conditions
The Kananaskis Provincial Park website is a very thorough park website, including
trail conditions or closures, wildlife notices, weather conditions, avalanche
conditions, camping permits, whitewater conditions, etc. It is an excellent source if
you are going to spend any time here and comparable to any National Park website I
have used. Outside of the parks web site, Canadian Avalanche Association is also
useful, particularly for winter travel. Canadian Alpine Accident Reports is also
extremely relevant.

Route
This is a 4200’+ ascent day. I recorded 4450’ total on my altimeter. This is the same
approach trail used for The Fortress, Mount Chester and Gusty Peak. Hike into
Chester Lake on the Chester Lake Trail, some 44 km south of Canmore on Spray
Lakes Road (Smith Dorrien Trail). This is a ski trail approximately 4 km long. The trail
has several right turn options, but you need to stick left on the main trail at all times.
Eventually it narrows to a single track as it starts to climb steeper ground. I chose to
bike up to the single track (bikes not allowed beyond this area), but it is a steep
grade. Obviously it is worth it coming out though, even if you had to push your bike up
the hill.

Once at Chester Lake (the route up Mount Chester is in clear view to your right),
proceed along the north shore until you come to a trail intersection.   If snow covers
the ground, keep in mind this is a brief distance.   Do not circle all the way around
the lake as you would for Fortress or Gusty. Turn left at the intersection and start a
mild ascent past the “Elephant Rocks”. Take some time to enjoy these peculiar rock
formations on your right below Gusty Peak (photo included). Continue northwest and
turn due north when you break out into a small valley complete with a stream and
multiple headwalls forming small lakes.

Continue along the right bank of the drainage and cross over at the first headwall.
Proceed along the left bank of the first of three lakes until you come to a grassy
ravine on your left and ascend until Mount Galatea comes into full view straight away
north. Stay somewhat left as you approach the base of the mountain to avoid
unnecessary elevation loss. Move across large talus and/or snow. Mount Galatea
has several gullies at her base that could serve as ascent routes, but the least
objectionable hazard route is climbers right.   If the south face is loaded with snow,
stay as far right as you can.   This part of the face almost serves as a ridge.

This is an unrelenting steep slope if post holing. Move with speed to avoid any
objectionable hazard until you gain the easternmost tip of Mount Galatea’s south
face. Take a breather and examine the ridge and its multiple cruxes. One might be
tempted to come out onto the face to bypass these problems on the left. But due to
snow and ice, I chose to climb these bands of rock head on and felt much more at
ease staying on the ridge. The issue with this strategy is the tremendous
exposure down the north face.

There are three critical rock bands to overcome on the ridge to reach the summit.
I have included photos of all three.   The first is the easiest, but exposed just the
same. The easier route is out over the north face, but more exposed. I chose to climb
more left with a 5th class move or two. The second problem you come to is has a
crack feature to the left off the ridge slightly. I took the gloves off and had a joy moving
up this piece of solid rock. The ridge narrows on over to the third and toughest
problem. You will find yourself gripping onto the thin edge as you move across. This
crux can be taken further down the south face if free of snow and ice. In fact there
was a cairn marking a small chimney feature that would lead to the final ridge route
to the summit. However, as I angled across, my alpine ax hit slab rock and ice below
the fresh snow. Conditions were such, I felt little if any layer adherence. Therefore, I
climbed this piece head on, which required several 5.9 moves to overcome.

The views from this Kananaskis highpoint are amazing and I had a great fresh snow
day making it even more spectacular. As mentioned previously, Mount Sir Douglas
and its many adjacent peaks dominate the immediate view to the southwest. Mount
Joffre is in clear view to the distant south and Mount Bogart illuminates amongst
many peaks to the north. I was forced to descend the same route due to unstable
fresh snow conditions on slab rock. But I imagine a fast descent down the center of
the face is had in drier conditions. Gusty Peak’s steep northwest face put on quite a
show on my return. This is great high alpine country, stop and smell the roses on
return if you have the time.

Essential Gear- Alpine Ax, Helmet, Bear Spray, Gaiters (for descent), Mountain Bike

Trip Report
After two days of watching the Canmore mountains get slammed with snow at 6500’
on up, I chose to head back into Kananaskis for a look. I had a fantastic summit day.
This is a fine objective for a great view, but needs to be respected regarding snow
load. A partner and I went in to do it June one year and opted for Fortress as we
watched avalanches wipe out the route. The “Elephant Rocks” are one of my favorite
places to chill. Chester Lake is not bad itself. Cheers.