A Good Attempt to Mt. Whymper

I talked to The Chef last Thu. and I realized that he will have the whole week off to himself, which is this week. This meant that we could go for a hike on Sun. Therefore I searched a little bit and I decided to go somewhere new. I selected Mt. Whymper in Kootenay National Park. I was hoping that after the disappointing trip we had to Kananaskis last week, we would be able to have a good hike in that area. This mountain is across Stanley Mountain, where I had this silly hike a little more than two years ago, to Stanley Glacier.

After nearly half an hour, or even loner, walking in the forest and bushwhacking my helmet was about to be full of needle leaves as you can see here 

I and The Chef got together to discuss the detail of the hike and have a meal on Sat. afternoon. We bought a couple of Pizza and a small bowl of Chicken from Pizza Hut. I was hungry but he had had something and played with the food and drank two cans of his favorite Beer. I finished my Pizza and 2 or 3 slices of his and he was a little intoxicated. We then split then and I went and got the vehicle. I then set the clock for 04:30 and went to bed as we were supposed to meet at 05:00, next morning.
I woke up at around 04:05 and got my gear and headed to rendezvous point. The Chef arrived there early as well, to my surprise and after parking his vehicle, we headed to a McDonald's because he said he wanted to get breakfast. I was not very hungry due to the fact that I had lots of Pizza the night before but I got a Sausage and Egg Bagel Sandwich and a medium cup of Coffee. I customized the sandwich to make it lighter but The Chef ordered two sandwiches and a 3-3 medium Coffee!

This is the gully that you have to go up to get yourself to the last stage and dangerous part of the hike. The gully is now eroded a lot and would not be easy to go up from. you would need to go as far right as you can and even there the rocks are not stable

With that in the tank we headed west and got ourselves to the designated parking lot.

The information about this hike is available in the web but I'm going to provide some, as well as the story of our hike. We pulled into the parking lot of Stanley Glacier at nearly 08:00 started to prepare for the hike. We were the second car in the parking but the other guys and every other car which parked there later, aimed for the stupid, childish hike of Stanley Glacier. We started at almost 08:10 and instead of finding the trail, we crossed Highway # 93 and cut into the dense forest! To save you some time and possibly injury, you need to go north on the highway for about 5 to 7 minutes only and then you will see the trail-head which is specified with a big rock and a broken(!) sign on the top of it. This, I realized on my way back.

You reach a flat area after you go up the gully and you can have a rest there. The view is nice but that's where the actual challenge starts. I didn't go pass this point for the reasons I've explained

We bushwhacked for probably half an hour or so and it was difficult! We had to go over fallen trees, fight the steep terrain and protect our body from sharp edges and branches! The Chef kept saying " Find the Trail! " until we finally got out of the mess. From there a gap was built between me and him and since I had predicted that I advised him to use my two-way radio which I had received earlier as a sort of gift and had never used it before. It came handy because The Chef kept falling behind and I had to check on him and give him directions. This was going on until I thought I should wait for him on a set of cliffs. When he arrived I saw that he was socked in his own sweat and was panting heavily! He said that he was done and he could not continue anymore! I knew that would happen but I advised him to take a break and then start after 10 minutes. I also told him to remove the extra layers. I started going up again and kept checking on him through the radio but I realized that our distance was getting bigger! At one point when he was aiming for a tall burnt tree (which you might see it during your hike as it stands out) he, I think, lost the direction and went to the wrong way! He is awful at route finding even when he drives in the city but this hike is very straightforward! All my attempts to get him back on the track failed and the nightmare of him being lost in the woods and I go after him made me to direct him back to the parking lot! In the meantime the damn radio was really low on battery and kept turning off on its own!

Highway # 93 south from the trail at the elevation I reached. This mountain I'm not sure which one it is but could be Vermillion Peak

Now I'm thinking of what was going on, I wonder if he pretended to not being able to find the way up just to go back to the parking lot! I told him that he had eaten too much and he had put too much on as well and that is what I had expected. Now with him going back, I headed toward the cliff area of the mountain and it got colder, windy and a few drops of rain were felt on my skin. I was able to find the damn trial but I also realized that I have to go up a very steep gully, full of loose rock! I reached a sort of flat area after the struggling in that gully and then I realized that it would be much harder to continue. The information I had printed was not in order, the weather was cold, cloudy and windy, I didn't know of the situation of The Chef, it was becoming late and more importantly I felt intimidated by the rocks and the trail situation. I think know that I was too dependent on the printed information. In a situation like that a good hiker just has to observe the available options and wisely select one. But again I think being alone on the mountain in that situation, made me to decide to descend! I think I still had, at least, half an hour of good scramble and climb combined with route finding. 

I headed down and this time I took the trail on my way back to the parking. I reached the parking lot at about 13:30. It was a good 05:30 hour hike/scramble. The parking lot was packed and some even had parked on the highway's shoulder. The Chef was eating his second sandwich(!) and a bottle of Coke and seemed fine. Mt. Whimper is not considered an easy hike and I perhaps should have considered that before heading out but I don't regret it. Had it been a nice and sunny day, I'm sure now, that I would have been able to go higher or even reach the summit. Would I try this mountain again? Possibly. September is not a very good time for hiking difficult mountains unless you're well-prepared and equipped as well as in a group. Not recommended for solo hiking.
(Photo, top: Mt. Whymper from after, probably, one hour on the trail)