The Cyclone Challenge (Scramble)
53.12km, 2200m elevation gain, 3 peaks, traversing a scarcely traveled class 5 ridge, walking on an icefield, and swimming in a glacial lake. I can't picture a more complete 18 hours.
Cyclone Challenge (Scramble)
Notable Visited Landmarks
Passes
- Boulder Pass
- Cotton Grass Pass
- Deception Pass
Introduction
The Cyclone Challenge consists of parking at the Fish Creek parking lot, climbing, traversing the connecting ridge to Pipestone Mountain and Pipestone Tower, and heading out back to the Fish Creek parking lot all in a single day. I was reading a trip report on Cyclone Mountain where the author of the report mentioned that it would be possible to do Cyclone Mountain, Pipestone Mountain, or Tilted Mountain in a single day with a bike approach if you were a hardcore peak bagger. I took this as a challenge and devised a day where I would do Cyclone, Pipestone, and Pipestone Tower with no bike approach. I named it the Cyclone Challenge and I challenge you to do it as well, this is about as much fun as you can have in the Canadian wilderness.
Urbi, Michael, and I did the Cyclone Challenge on July 20, 2020 (year 1 of the covid). We went as soon as we thought the snow would be gone from most of the route, we wanted to go while the days were still long so we would minimize our time in the dark. I suggest trying to go early in the season so that you have a lot of daylight and you can make use of the snow in the descent gully between Pipestone Mountain and Pipestone Tower. If you are not planning on doing this trip in 1 day then it may be nice to go in larch season as the Skoki area is known to be beautiful during that time, but no matter when you go I am sure you will get amazing views.
In terms of difficulty the Cyclone Challenge was 53.12km, and about 2200m of elevation gain. It took us 17:58:50h, although we took many breaks to enjoy the day making it perhaps longer than it could have been. Approximately 40km will be on trail, to and from the Upper Red Deer Lake. The route up Cyclone Mountain is class 2 and it isn’t very loose so gaining elevation is easy. The ridge to Pipestone Mountain has 2 class 5 downclimbs, one of them with severe exposure. Michael quoted the hardest as 5.6. If you are not comfortable with the exposure you may want to bring a rope and some trad gear to rappel. Once you get to Pipestone Mountain the rest of the on mountain portion is class 2 until you get on trail again. There may be some points of the mountain that still have snow (like the descent gully) it doesn’t hurt to bring an ice axe and some microspikes, I don’t think that crampons will be necessary, we didn’t bring them, but make the decision for yourself depending on when you decide to go.
GPS route from the day, stats are off from lack of points in this track
Approach to Upper Red Deer Lake
You are going to want to park at the Fish Creek Parking Lot across the 93 from Lake Louise. You will want to arrive there early, we started walking up the service road towards the Skoki trailhead at 4:05. The service road is 4km long and you’re just walking up a dirt road for this portion of the trip so there isn’t really a downfall to walking it in the dark. The Skoki trailhead is marked by the sign showing all the distances to the destinations in the Skoki area. Red Deer Lakes campground is 15km from there, a not so encouraging sight to see.
Distances to locations in the Skoki area
You are going to want to follow the trail into the Skoki area for about 3km, you will arrive at the halfway hut. From here there will be a fork in the road, follow the signs towards Deception Pass. After another 2km you will arrive at Boulder Pass and shortly after Ptarmigan Lake. Because of the way we timed our start we got a beautiful sunrise over a still Ptarmigan Lake, and we took some time to fill up water and take pictures. I suggest that you never carry water with you for the on trail sections, there are plenty of streams and lakes to fill up water and it is a long day so you probably want to be carrying as little as possible.
Sunrise over Ptarmigan Lake
Follow the trail around the North end of Ptarmigan Lake, you will come to a fork in the trail. It doesn’t really matter which way you take, we took the trail heading North towards Deception Pass, this way is 2km shorter but there is a bit more elevation gain. On the way back we went the Baker Lake route so we could optimize the amount of new scenery we would see. Once we got to Deception Pass we continued North towards the Skoki Lodge but we followed the signs East towards Red Deer Lake Campground so we missed the Skoki Lodge by about 1km. We continued to follow the signs until we made it to the Red Deer Lakes Campground.
From the campground we strayed a bit off course, we continued on the trail straight through the campground but if you actually go to the part of the campground with picnic tables you can cut off on a trail to the West behind some trees that will take you to the Upper Red Deer Lake in a more direct fashion. Unfortunately we did not realize this until we did Mount Drummond later in the year. Following the trail straight through the campground we arrived a couple of bridges across the Red Deer River very soon after that there is a fork in the road, the signs there won’t be useful but you will want to take the trail going West. Follow this trail and you will make it to the Upper Red Deer Lake. By this time we had traveled more than 21km so we filled up water and took a nice half hour break.
Beautiful reflections moving along the North side of Ptarmigan Lake
Brilliant morning sun at the Red Deer Lakes Campground
Section where there are bridges over the Red Deer River
The useless sign
Cyclone Mountain
From the Upper Red Deer Lake continue West on a small trail. You will want to follow this trail until you reach a clearing (there are actually many sizable bushes in this clearing but there are no trees) that is probably about half a kilometer East of the summit of Cyclone. This clearing came maybe 50m after we lost the trail so if you run into the same situation that is probably a good sign. As you walk along the trail take not of the obstacles on the ridge from Cyclone to Pipestone you will have to prepare for 2 class 5 downclimbs the West most one which is smaller is actually the most difficult, the largest one which is almost at Pipestone is much easier and has less exposure.
Approximate line up from the clearing
As you can see from the above photo there will be a short section through the forest, but it is spread wide so the bushwhack is not bad, from there try to move climber’s left to the scree. Once on the scree it is an easy class 2 trip to the summit. The scree is not loose so you will make fast progress. Once on the summit ridge you will have a beautiful view of the Drummond Icefield, follow the ridge West for about 100m and you will arrive at the giant summit cairn marking the summit of Cyclone Mountain.
Views opening up on the ascent of Cyclone Mountain
View looking West from the summit of Cyclone
Click for a 360 view from Cyclone Mountain
Pipestone Mountain
It took us just under 7 hours to get to the summit of Cyclone Mountain. We took a long break at the top I think about 40min and when we had soaked in the views, we decided that it was time to move on to the most difficult part of the day. I hadn’t heard much of anything on the connecting ridge from Cyclone to Pipestone. I think that Rick Collier went the reverse way in 1992 but nothing more than that, so I was very anxious to check it out for myself.
The ridge starts off easy, about class 2. You descend a small way the route should be obvious given that it is a ridge so there is only really one way you can go. It will start to narrow and turn to slab. This is where we got some of the best views of the day, almost immediately you will be able to see a lake on the Drummond Icefield that is invisible from the summit of Cyclone. Once on the slab for a ways there will start to be some drops on the ridge. The first one will be only about 1m high. That will be followed by a 3m drop which Michael and I took pretty close to the drop off on the North side but Urbi found a safer way by descending a short ways South of the ridge. Soon after you will arrive at the crux downclimb.
360 summit views from Cyclone Mountain
The ridge turns to slab
Michael attacking the 3m drop
When you get to the crux downclimb it won’t be immediately obvious how you can get down. We had to go back about 2m from the drop, and downclimb the side of the drop facing the icefield. This was what we considered to be the technically easiest way down. It also had the most exposure and a fall would almost certainly result in death. The first part of the downclimb consists of safely getting into the downclimb from the ridge. I did this facing out but Urbi did this facing in. After you’re onto the wall you want to face in, there will be a small overhang onto a large enough ledge. I made a controlled jump onto the ledge facing inwards and holding the wall. After you are on this ledge go East back towards the ridge, the downclimb isn’t done yet, you have about 2m to go back down, the holds here aren’t great but the exposure isn’t as bad. Describing a downclimb is difficult over text so here are some visuals to enhance my description.
Urbi coming onto the wall, I am standing on a ledge
View of the exposure as I face outwards to start the downclimb
Michael finishing off the last part of the downclimb
Click to view video footage from the crux downclimb
Once you finish the downclimb continue along the ridge until you get to the largest downclimb which is just before Pipestone Mountain. This downclimb has 2 routes to choose from, Urbi and Michael took the less steep route, it will be obvious just follow the smallest gradient. I took the direct route which was more steep but I assume also more fun. If you survived the last downclimb you will be able to do this one.
Urbi on the first part of the downclimb – photo credit: Michael Svoboda
Urbi going on the less steep route – photo credit: Michael Svoboda
Click for POV footage from the last downclimb
Once you finish that downclimb it is a short walk to the summit of Pipestone, enjoy the views, they are well deserved. We had been going for more than 9 hours at this point and there was almost 9 more hours to go so get your rest in.
Click for 360 view from the top of Pipestone Mountain
Pipestone Tower
could be achieved using rocks. When you get to the tower part of the towers it is pretty loose so I wouldn’t fool around trying to find some fun extra scrambling, take the easiest way up. The views from Pipestone Tower like the views from most of the day are excellent.
Some fun unnecessary exposure on the ridge
Snow on our way to Pipestone Tower
The icefield crept onto the ridge but it wasn’t dangerous
There is a lot of choss here, don’t fool around
The Skoki area
The Drummond Icefield
The Long Haul Out
When you’re ready to head back go West along the ridge towards Pipestone Mountain. At the low point take the descent gully down. In early season it should be filled with snow as it was for us. If there is snow the descent will be fast. After you are out of the gully continue South and you will hit a trail. Follow it East and you will get to that useless sign from earlier, you know the way back from there. Of course, there are a couple variations you can do. We went back the Baker Lake route taking us through some beautiful alpine meadows to complete the Skoki loop. We also had a detour checking out 1 of the Lower Red Deer Lakes. Because the lakes are so shallow, they warm up relatively fast, so I went for a short swim.
I planned this day for 2 years thinking that it would be absolutely amazing, and it was better than I imagined in every way. 10/10 would recommend you don’t have to necessarily have to do it in 1 day, but it is definitely worth time to get out there at some time.
Fast descent in the snow
Good thing I brought swim gear!
Beautiful meadows on the way to Baker Lake
Baker Lake is nice rest spot after having traveled 40km
Long day, but 100% worth it