East Ridge of Mt. Edith Cavell (III 5.5)

Mark & Chris enjoying the excellent quartzite climbing on Edith Cavell's East Ridge.

Chris & Mark joined me from Stoney Plain to make an ascent of the East Ridge on Mt. Edith Cavell on Tuesday. This is the best route in the Jasper area and we all enjoyed the climb immensely. There was a fair bit of fresh snow on the upper pitches but this just added to the alpine experience and the harder climbing was fortunately dry.


Chris on the plateau with the upper ridge visible behind.

Chris & Mark both have excellent scrambling skills so we managed to make it the the upper portion of the ridge unroped. The upper ridge had about a dozen pitches of climbing on excellent blocky quartzite. Due to the snowy conditions we opted to make the long but straightforward descent down the West Ridge/South Face route. Mark and Chris are both super keen to do more climbs like this in the future and I hope to be able to get out climbing with them again!


In the clouds on the summit!

J. Mills
CRAG Owner & Head Guide
www.cdnalpine.com