Inglismaldie to Peechee Traverse | The Canmore Mountain List

Inglismaldie to Peechee Traverse
October 16 2022

Mount Inglismaldie, Girouard, and Peechee make up a group of impressive peaks that tower above Lake Minnewanka. None of them get much traffic but Inglismaldie and Girouard have seen some visits over the years from avid scramblers and peak baggers. Mount Peechee on the other hand is practically an untouched mountain. Given its location, a severe lack of information, and its unusual formation and difficulty — it's easy to see why. I was well aware that it could end up being the crux of the entire Canmore Mountain List, so when I caught wind of Devan Peterson curious about the idea of linking all three of these peaks up I knew it was one of the only opportunities I'd get to check off this traverse with someone as strong and interested as Devan and make a push for Mount Peechee's formidable summit!

Before Devan and I had started to make plans I had already been scoping out a feasible route on Peechee. At this point I had a route in mind for most peaks on the Canmore Mountain List but Peechee was the X factor. Looking through pictures of Peechee from other nearby trip reports emphasized its cliffy and technical nature from all sides, and the little information I found online that detailed a way up the NE face but gave zero specifics and mentioned the lines technical nature didn't inspire confidence.

Climber ascending steep, exposed terrain near the summit of Mount Peechee during the Inglismaldie to Peechee Traverse, with loose rock and serious fall consequence below.

Regardless, once Devan and I both expressed interest in the peak link-up we got to planning and decided to go for the standard route up Inglismaldie, followed by descending straight off the summit block to the SE until we reached the col before taking the ridge direct up Girouard. After Girouard we planned to follow the connecting ridge until we reached a ledge that cut across the NE face of Peechee that we could take until we determined our line of attack on the mountain and this would also be our exit route to Carrot Creek but more on that later. The two biggest concerns we had were a final steep step on the NW ridge of Girouard just before the summit and Mount Peechee, but we'd have to wait until we saw the terrain ourselves up close to know if it would go or not! This was my first time getting out for an objective with Devan but I was familiar with his accolades in the mountains and some of his free solos of the tough rocky peaks on the 11000ers of the Canadian Rockies list rank him among the strongest peak baggers in the area and certainly one of the stronger partners I've ever teamed up with!

Something else worth mentioning is that the forested area you cut through to approach Mount Inglismaldie as well as the typical route for Mount Girouard both cut through a frequently closed area. When Devan and I went for this outing it was open but in the event that it's closed when you're trying to go for these peaks the alternative approach option is to follow a trail / bushwhack just east of the Cascade Canal north until you get mostly past Two Jack Lake and then head directly east before continuing SE until you reconnect with the standard route behind the closure. I've never done this approach and it could likely be quite tedious but I'd be curious to check it out at some point and try to follow the entirety of the ridge on the Inglismaldie massif.

links: STRAVA | GAIA
elapsed time: 14.5hrs
DIFFICULTY: climb - 5.3-5.5

A number of kms up the drainage now, in the grand scheme of bushwhacks Inglismaldie isn't so bad

First objective of the day in sight now, Mount Inglismaldie!

Mount Girouard and its impressive towers

Working our way up, a bit of a slog getting up Inglismaldie

The upper ridge of Girouard doesn't look easy from here, we still weren't sure if it
would go

The final section of Inglismaldie is a bit more hands on but nothing crazy, the route cuts left of the steep slabs

Into the unknown! Quite the relief off the NE side of these peaks

The line Devan and I opted for, others likely exist though

Through the worst of the Inglismaldie descent now

Nearly at the summit of Girouard now with just the steeper step ahead of us, don't look down!

Devan captured a gnarly shot of me on this steep section, definitely a no fall zone

Relaying to Devan that one of the nicer holds in this section was loose

Looking down the NW face, it's completely
possible that another line up Girouard exists
somewhere in here

The less seen side of Lake Minnewanka, Mount Alymer just left of center

Looking down into the huge bowl between Girouard and Peechee, Peechee at far left

Another group we bumped into while approaching Inglismaldie got this shot of us on their
way up!

Joffre, Sir Douglas, King George, and Assiniboine along the distant horizon

There were a few small cliffy features while trying to follow the ridge, many lines exist here

An unfamiliar looking Mount Girouard from this angle

Onto the tame ridge now, our last objective of the day Mount Peechee to the right

Views east all the way into the ghost, quite the vantage point from here

And there it is! The intimidating NE face that we'd be ascending visible now, note the slope angle...

Our line of attack, we moved left and right on our way up to stay on the easiest line, gotta have some route
finding skills on this terrain!

The NE face of Peechee was by no doubt our most technical part of the day and the entirety of the slope is a no fall zone. Devan and I are both the type that would prefer to downclimb than rappel as long as we're comfortable and we didn't even bother bringing a rope for this outing, but even for parties with rope, trad gear and experience, the entire NE face has loose and downsloping crap quality rock. Personally I wouldn't feel very comfortable trusting an anchor on the slope and if anything happens the entire things runs at at least 45 degrees meaning you'd likely be taking a tumble right to the bottom. The NE face was composed of ledges separated by 5th class steep section so it never felt crazy committing but the consequence of a fall is extreme.

Once we topped out on the NE face we skirted left a couple times to bypass technical terrain before gaining more ground which eventually led us to the south side of the final summit block where we made our final push for the top. This final section was definitely tricky and the last blocky moves to gain the summit were extremely airy. There was a slung up boulder here so for those wanting to rappel off the peak you could at least comfortably rappel off the summit to the top of the NE face. For me this was one of those summits where you don't quite get the same high stoke feeling as you would for other seldom done objectives, I was too concerned about getting down in one piece. The descent required much more focus and especially getting back down the NE face we had to be dialed. But thankfully once you're back at the ledge you're in the clear and all that's left is the trudge out to Carrot Creek and then that horrendous flooded overgrown creekbed terrain back to the car

The typical terrain throughout this face was flat ledges seperated by low 5th climbing sections

Topping out on the NE face! Now just the upper mountain left to deal with

To the SE of the summit now after contouring around the steep initial section of
the upper mountain

Contouring around this difficult section of the summit block left to easier terrain

Some sporty final moves to gain the
summit

And of course some exposed ridge to finish things off

The legends Taylor Sullivan & Chris
Moneypenny beat us to it!

Girouard, Alymer, and the impressive towers off of Peechee

Mount Peechee's other high point, hard to tell which is truly higher

Quite wild that the ascent and descent slope is to the right of Devan in this photo
and it's not at all visible from here, puts the steepness in perspective

Our descent route visible now, we followed the drainage all the way to treeline

And a whole lot of this to end off the day!