2023-07-02 - as shown in a few of my other videos I have had a long obsession with Mt. Darrah. I've made it a goal to try to summit this formidable peak as well as it's eight unnamed outliers all named according to their geographic proximity to Darrah: DSE4, DS4, DS3, DS2, DS1, DSW1, DN1 and DN2. I have already summited DSE4 and DS3 and attempted DN1.
On this adventure I decided to make an attempt of DN2. Unfortunately, there is no easy route for the peak as there is a crumbly cliff wall to the south and a sheer cliff wall to the north of DN2. I looked online for any mention of an attempt on the peak but could find nothing other than a report on Bivouac by Rick Collier who scrambled from McGladrey to Darrah which would have had to include DN2. I also saw a brief entry on Peakery.com where Daniel Vanderpyl recorded an ascent of DN2 after summiting nearby Mt. Pengelly.
I thought about doing the same thing as I could see a potential line to DN2 when I had scrambled up Pengelly in 2019. But, I was nearly positive that there would be some serious down climbing on this route. Instead I opted to go into the McGladrey basin to the north of Pengelly and pass through the col that lies between Pengelly and McGladrey. Melissa and I had climbed to this col when we had scrambled up McGladrey, also in 2019, so I knew it was doable.
This route also gave me the excuse to visit a beautiful little tarn on the west (BC) side of the col. I imagined that very few humans had ever visited this remote spot so I felt it was a worthwhile diversion just for that reason. I was worried that the west slopes of Pengelly would be a nightmare of scree and rubble and I would have to lose even more elevation before I could make it over to DN2 but I was pleasantly surprised to find a goat trail that cut right through the scree to a pleasant valley.
Once in the valley I could see that the slopes on the north of DN2 were steep but not discouraging. I then made my way directly up the slopes and got to the first of two little summits that, to me, looked like little pointy ears. Once I made my around the first "ear" the summit popped into view. I could see that from here that it would be a simple scramble to the summit along a short ramp of scree. There was loose scree in the final approach and if it was snow-capped this might've been a bit more dicey.
There was little exposure and I never felt I was in anything beyond class 3 territory. I returned the same way. The only real difficulty I had was in the down climb back from the Pengelly-McGladrey col. The rock here is crumbly and I chose to side slope a fair portion in order to get some loose scree that I could scree-ski down.
Music:
"Lend Me a Hand" by Teodor Holmqvist
"Stay with Me" by Roo Panes
Негізгі бет Mt. Darrah N2 - Castle Wildland Provincial Park / East Kootenay Region - Alberta, Canada
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