Outlaw Peak

October 11, 2020

2957m

Elbow River / Kananaskis Country, AB

“Outlaw Peak” is the only one among the Elbow 4-Peak, Glasgow to Banded Traverse that’s unofficially named, but the name is pretty well-accepted nowadays and the route is also well written in Alan Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. This is also the least interesting among the four peaks from literally any perspective. For peak-baggers and scramblers it makes zero sense to not bag them in a single grab and the usual direction of traverse is from Mt. Glasgow towards Banded Peak. Earlier in the day Winnie and I had scrambled Mt. Glasgow and traversed Mt. Cornwall in some less-than-ideal weather and conditions.

Glasgow to Banded Traverse route. GPX DL

We took a long break at Cornwall/Outlaw col before embracing the hurricane level wind on Outlaw Peak’s NW Ridge. We encountered the most intense wind of the day on this stretch, and especially near the steep step about halfway up the ridge. We did a short detour on the climber’s left side to bypass the steepness. By the time we reached the summit the weather had further improved revealing some giants in the Highwood area but the 11,000ers on the Continental Divide were still not visible.

Descending the south ridge of Mt. Cornwall towards Cornwall/Outlaw col

As you can see, we had to fight hard against the wind

Winnie with Outlaw Peak’s NW Ridge ahead

Believe or not it was kinda funny to see each other battling the wind…

Using gloves to cover our faces was a good idea…

The NW Ridge of Outlaw Peak and the wind…

The peaks on Opal Range finally showed up

Winnie ascending Outlaw Peak

Another photo of Winnie plodding up Outlaw Peak

This is looking SW past some unnamed outliers

We really had to lean into the wind…

The final summit ridge of Outlaw Peak

Partial Summit Panorama from Outlaw Peak. Click to view large size.

Looking back towards Mt. Cornwall

Mt. Glasgow was our first objective in this day

An obligatory photo looking east onto the Alberta prairie

This is the nipple of Banded Peak…

Mt. Burns looms behind Cougar Mountain

Mt. Rae the 4th highest in Kananaskis still engulfed in clouds

This is looking at the southern Opal Range including Elpoca Mtn. somewhere there

Bluerock Mountain has become fairly popular in these years

Mt. Blane and “The Blade” catching sunshine at center shot

Mt. Romulus looks rather iconic from many angles

Me on the summit of Outlaw Peak

Another photo of me on the summit of Outlaw Peak

Winnie on the summit of Outlaw Peak

Winnie and I on the summit of Outlaw Peak. Note the wind…

The descent off Outlaw Peak’s SE slopes was not very enjoyable. We followed the narrow ridge down to an abrupt end and then descended through some steep snow-covered rubble aiming for Outlaw/Banded col. This stretch involved a lot more elevation loss than I was hoping for, and felt very frustrating. Once down to the col we took another long break before committing to the ascent of Banded Peak.