Valley of the Ten Peaks / Moraine Lake

As impressive as the lithographic print on the back of our old $20 is, and no disrespect intended towards George Gunderson’s artwork, I think social media and innovation in media and imaging technology have had a lot more to do with the explosion of interest in the area.

This iconic scene – the Valley of the Ten Peaks proudly posing for their family portrait behind Moraine Lake – is a case in point: I don't think there are many scenes more photographed on the planet than this one. The 14 km road from town up to the lake delivers wave after wave of tourist from all over the world. Armed with every conceivable breed of imaging device, they spill out at the the end of the parking lot by the busload (literally!), crowding the north end of the lake to capture this shot.

(Though I'm a little embarrased to say, I was digging around my hard drive and old photo albums and couldn't find one. I don't think I've actually ever snapped it! This one’s from Wikipedia. Some serious clipping in the highlights & whites up top. I guess I should have given Jimmy a little more money!)

Deltaform from Temple

An early winter snap of Deltaform & friends from Temple's southwest ridge a few years back: well enough into the cold months to notch up the fun and nix the crowds – no one's around after the buses stop running – yet still early enough for a more tolerable avalanche risk.

I snapped the shot shortly before noon and late enough in the year for the mid-day sun to backlight the south end of The Valley of the Ten Peaks, lending silhouette to the mountains and a luminescent quality to the clouds.

Pinnacle and Eiffel emerge from the foreground and the right, the latter being an easy, quick bang-for-your-buck ascent with incredible views all the way up to the top. Alan Kane^[1] gives both Eiffel and Temple superb treatment in his book and they were among the first scrambles I tackled in his first edition, back in the early 90s. I still have it, it's in two pieces. It's missing some pages (but so am I)

Eiffel is a great place to suss out hiking buddies: if they’re not smiling ear to ear up top, chances are they’ll quietly hate you for even trying to drag them up Temple. Moreso if it’s in the same day, moreso still if it’s after biking up to Moraine Lake from town with a pack.

(And it will bring "bad date" into a whole new dimension of awkward. I should post some of those shots: funny now, not so funny then)

I digress. Back to Deltaform:

I aborted my previous shot at Deltaform’s summit at its notch, a barely visible cleft near its summit (the jet contrail's left tail nearly touches it in this shot). It doesn’t look like much from here, but was enough to scare me away in 2022. A calmer, second look this year (2023) put the solution in reach.

I've got shots from up there looking back this way and towards Moraine Lake. They're further down.

Here's that trip report.

Deltaform / Neptuak Traverse (northwest ridge route)

Trip Report

Tough sections are YDS 5.5+/5.6 on sketchy, exposed rock. Overall: Alpine III/D(ifficile). Locations in MGRS

(solo, 2023 Jul 24, nearly 17 hours camp-to-camp. Long day!)

Water

Some fresh, running snowpack water on the upper platform at the N/D col and I heard & spotted water on N’s lower scree slope but there’s no guarantee. Probably best to bring in what you need or stovemelt crusty old snowpack if the mountain is dry (yuk). I packed a liter from “Moraine Pond” (see below).

Camp and Moraine Pond

Snapped from, or near one of the bivy rings here (visible from space! 508849). A small pond at the snow in the bottom frame left in a recession in the moraine – let’s call it “Moraine Pond” – has decent water. I’ve camped here maybe half a dozen times or so over the years, for Deltaform and other objectives in the area. The water’s been OK, though it is closer to standing than moving. I think I had to crack the ice when I snapped this shot, it’s from the year before (2022).

You could boil or filter the water. You probably should. I probably should.

But I don't.

(unless it's for tea or hot food)

Nose Notes

I moved around the ridge (roughly the bridge of the Nose, near the same height as what looks like the nostril in this shot, route marked up in red) for mid-fifth options within a couple of dozen meters and it was my route this trip (2023). There are easier ascent (and descent) options through breaks in the cliff bands a few hundred meters further south along the right (Neptuak’s west face, on the far side of the Nose in this shot, 510844), in which case you’ll want to stay (much) lower on the ridge to avoid nastier cliff bands closer to this side of the face. No big deal if you come in too high: you get cliffed out, you backtrack, you downclimb.

I used this west face route on my last summit bid (2022). I’d already ascended its lower cliff bands, first for trad practice with a climbing partner on an intended shot at Deltaform a few years ago. We arrived at camp late in the afternoon and opted to scout routes and practice pitches that evening. My climbing partner had a change of heart and that was as far as we got. I'd been back a few times since.

I returned in the fall (2022) and spent the morning poking around the Nose and then south along the west face for routes I could scramble – ascend and downclimb sans gear – and found several, including those at the Nose. Just for fun, I left my pack at the top of the Nose to see how far I’d get, no gear. I made Neptuak’s summit just before 2:30 pm. Scrambling!

That trip gave me some confidence: I felt I could tackle Deltaform in a day, most or all of it as a scramble. And it showed up just how much even a little bit of pack weight slows me down.

Plenty of cairns, tat and obvious traffic make this west face route reasonably clear, assuming your route-finding chops are on par with this rock. Easier ascent options won’t help if you can’t find them, even if you’re a strong technical climber. So that’s one caveat. It’s a chimney-chasing face climb: trickier route-finding. Easier options are still fifth class and you have to find them – even with cairns and obvious traffic. Definitely some tricky, route-finding fun through there!

Another caveat: the annoying, daylight-gobbling scree traverse all the way back to the ridge from where you top out. Returning the same way has the lower edge of that same scree slope collapsing at cliffbands along the way – trickier to spot those or your ascent route on return, even with a GPS. But it's for a good cause.

Another option: pack a couple of ice tools and some crampons and head up the ice ramp (in the shot). Stow them there for your return. You won’t need them for the rest of the ascent (warm months).

Scramble!

My plan: firm up routes I’d found later in the last season and maybe sniff out some spicy new ones up Neptuak on day one; summit Deltaform on day two; hike & bike out from the pass on day three.

Unfortunately, a quick weather check from the top of the Nose just before 9 am day one had my weather window tightening up (cell reception's OK up there, touchier at the pass, fiction on the west face). 9 am seemed late for a summit shot. But why not try it? I’d made Neptuak’s summit last year in under 3 hrs from this same location. That was mid-October. Now it was July, the days were much longer and I had nearly a three hour head start.

Since I was packing light (just my 70 rap line, headlamp, water and some basics), I opted to see how far I could get compared to last year (the Notch). I would need to be back at camp and off Deltaform in another 14 hours from my position on top of the Nose: any less would make a summit shot unrealistic, any more meant descending tricky, technical terrain after dark. I'm OK descending known terrain after dark, within reason, and days were still long enough for 11pm not to have been dark for too long. I had 7 hours to get the summit and that again to downclimb back to the pass. Descending ususally goes quicker unless the terrain is tough. And DF’s terrain is tough: plenty of tricky and exposed downclimbing! I had to reach the summit by 4 or I'd turn around regardless.

Rough (upper) Plateau

(snapped with Walmart door prize phone)

The upper and rougher of the two, large plateaus at Netpuak’s col with Deltaform. My last time through here I rappelled from a ledge just a few dozen meters up ahead on the left with a fantastic view of the odd plateau feature at the col. An easier scree slope on the right, next to a menhir-like genharme just poking into view in this shot, avoids the rappel.

Gendarme

Here’s that gendarme. Head down and to the left: visible trail and a cairn (I recall at least one) are reassuring.

Before we head down, let's head over to the ledge for a view of the lower plateau...

Neptuak / Deltaform Col

The Notch

For me, DF’s crux was “The Notch” up top (sharing Moraine Lake road with the buses on the bike was a close second): getting to the notch floor, ascending the summit wall, then reversing the exercise. I worked out a downclimb into the notch that’s managable fifth class and even easier climbing back up and out. I can’t take all the credit for this beta: Devan Peterson tried to explain the first part of this downclimb to me while passing me on his descent from DF’s summit last year – we happened to land on DF the same day (thanks, Devan!).

It’s almost comic now: he was facing frontwards while downclimbing the same chute I was rappelling on Neptuak and untangled my rope for me, all while holding polite conversation about The Notch. His effort to be civil and communicate well was taking up more headspace than his descent, not because he wasn’t paying attention but because this guy really does have that degree of command over his movement in rough terrain. His “climb into the notch” explanation was lost on me at the time – the entire exchange was surreal – yet it made perfect sense when I was there Monday.

I often find that good TR beta plays that way: it makes more sense when I’m there. I would get that all the time when I was working my way thru Mr. Kane's first edition^[1] back in the 90s (yes it's true, proudly gen X! Older & wiser than Google!!) and again more recently with Mr. David Jones^[2]. I'd put the downclimb at early fifth class and even easier for the return ascent. There are two steps I was (just) able to comfortably make and a tight chimney squeeze, so If you're far enough outside my height and build then my solution may not work for you (I’m lean and 6’). If all else fails, you can rappel into the notch from both sides (2-bolt stations).

Downclimb Sequence

Summit?

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Summit: Eiffel, Pinnacle and Temple with Sentinel Pass

Descent

I’d planned to do the whole thing rap-free but got off route at the last headwall just before the summit. Oops#1: I rushed off the summit down the ridge – force of habit and I wasn't sure how much dark I'd be eating further down. I took care to find downclimbable options all the way up but each tough spot has its own thing: some meant moving just right or left off the ridge. One meant swinging out exposed onto the east face overlooking Eiffel Lake. One meant moving west off the ridge to breaks in two cliffbands. The challenge was in hitting them right on the way down, all the way down! They would have been much more difficult to recognize after dark (I don't like having to look at my GPS but it was there if I needed it). On realizing my mistake and instead of backtracking, the rap station was right there (and continue to be all the way down. My 70m was more than adequate last year, I counted 19 rappels though I may have overcounted) so I used it & the next station to get back to my ascent route. Oops #2 was leaving my scrambling gloves where I set up the rappel, meaning I would downclimb most of Deltaform without gloves.

Ouch!!

I downclimbed everything else, all the way into the Nose, rap-free (stuck to the Alberta side, haha). By then daylight was weak, which I expected, a little rain & some sleet (f***!) so downclimbing the rest of the Nose was out. And there was a little thunder (double f***!!). I rapped just the last 3 stations (2 of near 30m, the last about half that, all in line, OK tat with one piton-pop to keep me humble). So I didn't quite get the full descent sans rap, but close! And I did it inside the window I'd set aside. I was back at camp by about 10:30 pm. (Wrath of God about 4 am! Sleet, lightning, brutal wind! Brand spankin' new bivy sac – definitely passed the test!!)

Nose-nixing ice ramp

Looks like it’s still there. I snuck up there on a Wenkchemna Pass trip last year and it takes you to within maybe 50 meters or so of 3rd class to the ridge, completely bypassing the Nose. I found nothing posted about it this season but did last and other seasons. I’m guessing your crampons and tools would wait there for your descent.

Back to the Shell Station

I slept in the next morning – it was calm until about noon – and hiked back down to Moraine Lake and then biked back to the Shell station. Sharing the road with those buses was a little spooky – these folks are truly pros but some of those buses are HUGE! And dead quiet! I couldn’t hear them over my own road noise, then this hulking leviathan would slip into my peripheral vision. I can see them not wanting to tap the horn, for fear of spooking the wobbly bike guy with the big pack. Anyways, they really are pros but my next bike in will be off hours when traffic’s light or even after the road’s closed (my normal choice other years).

Or, I suppose I could just take the bus.

Hmm.

ATEOTD

("At the end of the day")

Great trip, got DF in one day, all by myself, almost completely rap-free! I'm sure I'll be back, it's a spicy ridge ascent with superb views all the way up. Tough scramble!

I should be able to cut a sizeable chunk of time by heading right for the Nose, staying on top of my route-finding up top and with more amenable weather on descent to nix the few remaining rappels. If I do, I'll come back here and brag about it. Hopefully with some decent shots (and less smoke!)

Last word

I wouldn’t hit this beast as a day scramble without a chiselled 11th-commandment turnaround time, a 70m rap line, a few slings and a headlamp, at the very least. I’d hate to get caught out without a rope If I’m tired, injured, off route or the route ices up. The (decent) rap stations were obvious, right on the ridge and OK tat all the way down in 2022 and where I needed them this trip (2023). There are some laughable ones too, not "happy" laughable but "sad and scary" laughable. I’m assuming you know what you’re doing well enough to know the difference. If you think you'll need a station, maybe check the trickier sections to make sure they're good on your way up but be warned: stations are right on the ridge through the tough spots when your ascent is not! I think this rock sees more traffic each year now and I see new bolts and tat with each trip. It looked OK for what I needed each time I was there, but I wouldn't bet my life on it! So you might want a quick peek at the stations you think you might use on your way up.

If you see a station you dont like, please don't bounce the boulder down the mountain and post it on Facebook

(it keeps me awake nights!)

Thanks for reading my TR & maybe I'll see you out there!

Rob Walker

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References

1. Alan Kane, "Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies", Rocky Mountain Books, 1992
2. David P Jones, "Climber's Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada" (series), High Col Press, Squamish BC

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Page updated: 2024 Feb 26