A scramble up to Mary Barclay's Mountain with the COC.

We started the trip with hiking to the Kananaskis River which we had to cross. The water wasn't too high, the temperature was relatively good (for some 'hot like in summer') so the wading to the other bank wasn't bad.

Once we got our feet dry and changed into boots we started gaining elevation quickly aiming for the south ridge of Mary Barclay's Mountain. First part was in the forest with light bushwacking but once we got up the ridge there were some nice hands on scrambling sections. At that point we were very close to the summit.

It took us under 3 hours to reach the top. We sat down for lunch for a bit but strong gusts of wind which came in intervals made us cold so soon we started going down.

We decided to make a loop and go down via gully, descent route suggested in A. Nugara's book. It started easy going down on scree but as the gully narrowed there was a small waterfall which was a bit tricky, not too bad though as there was a way around it. The most trouble was a rock fall as some of the rocks were very loose and we had a group of 8. If I were to do it again, I'd probably just return the same way...

From the gully we came to the creek/river bed which we followed back to the Kananaskis river. Fording the river back was good! It seemed warm and we found a better spot where the water was only up to our knees. Hopefully it washed away all the ticks we might have picked up on the way! ;)