Quartz Ridge Scramble
sometimes the most memorable adventures occur when things go wrong
Quartz Ridge Scramble
Notable Visited Landmarks
Mountains
Introduction
Quartz Ridge is a 24.5km, 1700m elevation gain point to point trip in Kootenay National Park. As far as I can tell Michael and I were the only party to ascent this peak (we did it on August 27 2019), there was no summit register, no cairn on top or along the way. We found 1 ski pole early on along the ridge but that was it. In fact, Quartz Ridge isn’t an official name, the ridge and the peaks have no name, we call it Quartz Ridge because we found quartz there, you may call it whatever you wish.
Quartz Ridge starts with the same approach route as Mount Ball which has notoriously bad bushwhacking. The ridge itself is loose and in places exposed becoming class 5 in places and requiring good route-finding skills. Although our descent took us into a different valley there was still a lot of bushwhacking.
Michael and I did this trip as an accident, we were supposed to be doing Mount Ball but due to poor preparation we went up the wrong headwall and decided to just take the ridge towards Mount Ball for as long as we could. I don’t recommend this trip unless you are a masochist, you are looking for experience with loose and exposed terrain, or you just want to go somewhere where hardly anyone goes. Ball and Beatrice is a much better option in the same area.
GPS route from the day, ignore black dot
Approach to the Ridge
You are going to want to park at the Marble Canyon day use area parking lot. We made the mistake of parking at the water tower in the Marble Canyon Campground and getting a warning on our windshield upon our return.
After you park head across the 93 to the Marble Canyon Campground, follow the road along the South side of the campground and when a dirt trail branches off towards Haffner Creek take it, it will get you started off on somewhat of a trail. As we parked at the water tower we did not know about this trail and we started bushwhacking straight away. The trail may be marked by the occasional cairn or more likely orange or pink and silver striped ribbons.
Pink and silver striped ribbon, photo is blurry due to lack of light
Stay on the left side of the creek as it canyons off. We stayed near the creek too long as it turned to canyon and had to scramble up to the right side of the creek where we gained more elevation than necessary. In general while you are going up Haffner Creek we found the terrain better high on the left side of the creek, but once you are an hour or so in you can make reasonable progress right beside the creek as well.
If you do stay near the creek you should be aware that frost may develop on the deadfall close to the creek making it very slippery. For more information on the bushwhack up Haffner Creek you can refer to my trip report on Ball and Beatrice.
Scrambling out of the canyon
Many small trees on the right side of the valley above the canyon
Eventually you are going to want to break away from the creek south towards a headwall that is in the Southern part of the valley. We started going up climber’s left of a waterfall which led to a flat section with many bushes. At the end of the flat section there were 2 potential gullies to take up, we took the left one and stayed on the left side of that gully.
Headwall from Haffner Creek
Going up beside the waterfall to the right
At the flat section, gully that we took
This brought us to another flat section where we crossed and headed up to the ridge. Once we were almost up to the ridge, we could see Mount Ball. We gained the ridge and took a break, we had been going for more than 4 hours by that point through pretty bad terrain.
Second flat section, up to the ridge from here
The Ridge
Once on the ridge start going East towards Mount Ball. The route to the first peak along the ridge is mainly class 2 possibly low class 3 and the route is obvious. You will start off on wide solid ground which will eventually turn to slippery shale, the ridge will narrow at points so you should be mildly concerned with a slip because there is enough exposure at points to cause a serious injury. This narrow section may be avoided by dropping down to the South-East side of the ridge and bypassing.
Michael trying to study for his test while heading up the shale ridge
View down Haffner Creek from the unnamed 2703m peak
View towards Mount Ball from the unnamed 2703m peak
From the first peak you will have a very discouraging view of the route ahead, you will start with about a 70m drop and then the ridge will start to narrow as it levels out. The rock will turn from shale to something less slippery. As can be seen from the first peak the ridge goes up to the next peak and is shear on the North face. Luckily the ridge will allow you access to the South face of this peak where you will continue to head East and up to climber’s right.
No more shale on the ridge
It was right after we got onto this face where we started to notice a lot of quartz, unfortunately the quartz section was short lived. As you move to climber’s right you will come to a first gully which can be bypassed by going up until it subsides and then working around it climber’s right.
Quartz along the ridge
Michael has crossed the gully and is continuing climber’s right
We continued climber’s right until we hit a drop, just before the drop there was a gully which we ascended (loose class 4). Once above the gully you will see that there is still a large drop to your right, you will also be able to see the final peak you end up on. We continued going up with the drop just to our right and eventually reached a point where we could safely head climber’s right again on a series of exposed ledges.
Michael starting up the class 4 gully
Final peak we ended up on
The first ledge is quite wide and leads you to a second ledge that is a couple meters below the top of a peak, this ledge is about 1m wide, work around it and you will get to a wider spot just before the crux of the day. The ledge narrows to a series of steps with exposure that would most likely kill you if you were to fall, this lasts for about 7m and then the ledge becomes consistent again although still not very wide.
Start of the exposed ledges, route on the first 2 ledges
Ledge turns to a series of steps with much exposure
This ledge will lead to a series of 2 short spikes in the ridge which Michael climbed, and I bypassed to the right. This brought us to a wider plateau on the ridge which lasted about 15m and led to a 1.5m class 2 downclimb. After bypassing a short spike on the ridge we got to an exposed move on loose terrain to stay on the ridge which led to a nice flat section.
Michael on the plateau
Bypassing a spike on the ridge
Michael with the exposed move to stay on the ridge
This brought us to a class 5 chossy downclimb which was about 5m long. After this the ridge is safe although loose for a long stretch up to the next peak. We bypassed this peak to the right through a series of ledges and cliffs although I wouldn’t rule out going over it as our route was loose and exposed.
POV on the loose class 5 downclimb
Going towards the next peak which we bypassed to the right
Ledges and cliffs, bypassing the peak
After that peak the final peak we ended up on was straight ahead, there is a bit of a wall in the ridge at the start of it, this can be bypassed by taking a ledge to the left and going up a break in the wall. After this it is just a short walk to the summit. We got there after almost 4 hours on the ridge.
View back along the ridge from the top of the unnamed 3046m peak
Scoping out a potential descent route that will take us back to the 93
Michael sneaking a view into the Sunshine area
Descent
On our way back we started off following our route there but we decided that we did not want to stay on the ridge at the loose and exposed parts as we had been going for 9 and a half hours through difficult terrain and we were mentally getting pretty tired. We broke off the ridge to the South going down a gully with scree not as loose as we would have liked. Eventually we got back off rock and into the trees and we couldn’t be happier.
Descending the break in the wall giving access to the unnamed 3046m peak
General descent route seen from where we broke off from the ridge
There was a creek at the bottom of the valley we were in, we started off by following that. The bushwhack started off easy and eventually became harder as we lost elevation and there were more bushes. The creek turned into a waterfall where we stayed climber’s left. Almost immediately the bushwhack got bad as we strayed away from the creek.
Staying to skiers left of the waterfall
We decided to cross the creek to the right side and we were getting close to the end of the valley at this point. We decided to cut the corner high on the right side of the valley to cover less distance. When we descended we were happy to run into a trail which we followed for 4km out to the 93 where my parents picked us up. This trail was a serious life save, after having horrible for terrain for more than 12 and a half hours we were treated to an easy downhill slope and huckleberries.
We went back to cross the creek once the bushwhack got back
Taking the corner high above the valley
Saved by the trail