Climbed Peveril Peak twice in late July and wanted to report a few anomalies
in the route description that is commonly available in Jasper.
The lower ascent gulley shown in the photo / topo was not the one I used on
either occasion. I used the first large right facing gulley you encounter
after scrambling up from the forest. I found this to be rather
straightforward 3rd and 4th class scrambling with the odd 5th class move. It
could be short-roped by an experienced leader if necessary. It joins the
route shown in the topo in short order.
The first technical pitch is actually 35 meters (>100 feet) rather than the
reported 75 feet. This was critical as I only had a 30m rope! A couple of
other pitch lengths were also a bit inaccurate but far less critical. The
belay at the end of pitch one now sports three pitons, two of which are good
with the third being obviously manky.
The rest of the ascent route is fairly obvious with some variation possible
as noted in the description.
The first part of the descent is well marked with cairns and involves one or
two sections of exposed down-climbing / scrambling. Don't add any more
cairns unless you really know you are on route as most of the old incorrect
cairns have now been removed.
Once you get to the large scree bowl in the description you may be confused
as you may perceive that there are actually two scree bowls side by side.
(One recent set of tracks obviously headed down the wrong bowl!) Go to the
far skier's left of the leftmost bowl to find the key cairn mentioned in the
description well down at the end of the scree. I was lucky to spot it from
afar on both occasions as it is not entirely obvious.
As the description says, "If you need to rappel, you are in the wrong
place."
In the very lowest part of the descent the description has you descending a
very chossy gulley to get back to the Portal Creek trail. On both occasions
I found it easier to follow the sparsely treed rib on skiers right from
where you can regain the gulley mid-way where you cliff out. Once in the
gulley descend a very short distance then get back on the treed rib almost
immediately until you cliff out a second time. At this point look for a
place to once again easily regain the gulley where you cross it to easier
scree on the right. The gulley is a real rockfall nightmare these days and
seems to have deteriorated in recent times. We added cairns to this option
to help steer folks onto the easier safer terrain.
Very esthetic quartzite climb with awesome views of Cavell and the Tonquin
peaks.
Enjoy
Cyril Shokoples MG
Rescue Dynamics
http://www.rescuedynamics.com
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These observations and opinions are those of the person who submitted them. The
ACMG and its members take no responsibility for errors, omissions, or lapses in
continuity. Conditions differ greatly over time and space due to the variable
nature of mountain weather and terrain. Application of this information
provides no guarantee of increased safety. Do not use the Mountain Conditions
Report as the sole factor in planning trips or making decisions in the field.
Please check out http://acmg.ca/mcr for more information.
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