The Ice Cave

Sat. 24 September:  Plateau Mountain

 

I can’t think of another place like this in Canada.  For over five hours, I wandered around this vast plateau, clocking up over 18 kilometres on the summit, and never dropping very much below 8,000 feet.  As far as I could see, there was just one scraggly bush which might be called a small tree, on this bare, high mountaintop.  For anyone who has hiked in the Pennine Hills of England, or Rannoch Moor in Scotland, Plateau Mountain is the place for you – except that there are no bogs up here, and I suspect the number of cloudless sunny days like today are somewhat rare in Britain.  They call this mountain a “nunatak”, which means it rose above the ice in the last ice age, creating a unique eco-system.

Of course, however magical this mountain may be, there is always a challenge.  Today, the first encouraging sight was a sign wired to the access road gate warning of a grizzly sow and cubs seen in the area for the past week.  My bike horn got a good workout as I pushed the bike up the gentle switchbacks to the summit.   No bears were to be seen, just a flock of nervous bighorn sheep.  The only other challenge was the constant strong westerly wind which blew non-stop all day.  Despite this being an exceptionally warm late September weekend, I wore three layers and a wooly hat all day on the summit, although even up there at 8,000 feet, it was not really cold, just windy.

The journey to the top of the plateau was surprisingly easy.  I had expected it to be steeper and more rugged.  Once on the top, the only features across the wide expanse of hillsides were two gas wells and the one “tree” on the north summit.  The ground consisted of rocks arranged roughly in polygons, with grassy areas in between.  These patterns are called fellsenmeer, and were created by centuries of freeze-thaw cycles.

Today I travelled the length and breadth of Plateau Mountain from the very north end to the far southern tip of the plateau, over both the north and south summits, and around the eastern perimeter with its spectacular views across to Sentinel Mountain and Hailstone Butte.

There is one particularly dramatic and exciting feature of Plateau Mountain – the Ice Cave.  To reach it I hiked the full length of the mountain to the far northern end, along a grassy elevated road built to provide access to a gas well, now completely removed.  I abandoned my bike after about a kilometre due to the combination of strong side winds and soft gravel road surface.  To my left (west) I was treated to an array of pointy mountain tops running the whole length of the horizon.

At the northern end of the plateau, I found an unexpected visitor plaque such as you may find beside the Trans-Canada Highway, and totally unexpected on this remote peak.  It told of the ice cave and the need to close it to visitors back in the early 1970’s.  But I wasn’t there yet!  I had to continue northwards along a lower ridge to another top, beyond which I dropped down the steep scree slopes, before carefully negotiating a ledge, leading to the cave. 

 

Or in fact two caves.  The first was open, and I ducked inside to find a narrowing passage disappearing into the gloom.  The views of the mountain scenery from inside the cave made for some good photos.  Right next to this smaller cave was the Ice Cave itself, its entrance blocked off by a metal gate.  I could see a few yards into the cave entrance, but the rest was hidden.  Inside the large chamber, there are apparently “clusters of hexagonal, plate-like ice crystals and extruded fingers of ice.  Rare and delicate ice flowers and cork-screw stalactites.”  And I had to take their word for it.  Nevertheless, this was an exciting place to stand, between two cliffs, with superb views of the surrounding peaks and valleys stretching out to the prairie.  I could even see the city of Calgary way off to the north over many ranges of foothills. 

This was one of the most exciting and well-hidden places I have visited in the Rockies, and I only wish I could have taken a look inside – but then the ice would melt with the warmth of all the bodies of sight-seers, not to mention the damage that would result from free access.

I spent the rest of the day wandering all over the plateau in the howling wind.  I might have looked like a drunken sailor, weaving at will over the bare hillsides, stopping to admire the different views, not feeling in any hurry to get anywhere in particular.  The southern and eastern escarpments, sweeping around in graceful curves, were particularly impressive.

Finally, after several hours of exploration, I put on my bike helmet and raced headlong back down the road, arriving back at the car almost before I had left the summit – but then staying all that time at such a high elevation might have had an impact on my judgment of time!  Back down at the car, it felt like a hot summer’s day.  At the campsite at Etherington Creek, I relaxed under the trees, basking in the unusual warmth of an early Fall afternoon, and dreaming of hidden ice caves and high plateaus where time stood still.

Statistics
Plateau Mountain
Sat. 24 September
Total Dist.	12.6 km (bike) + 14.6 km (hike) = 27.2 km
Height Gain	1,300 ft.
Max. Elev.	8,280 ft.
Time	6 hrs. 42 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       8.14 am Wellsite 1:       9.16 am Leave bike:      9.44 am Plaque:          10.19 am Ice Cave:       10.46 am Ret. to bike:  12.30 pm Wellsite 1:       1.01 pm S. end:            1.25 pm Summit:         1.57 pm Wellsite 1:       2.31 pm Ret. to car:      2.56 pm	Temp: Very warm day but cooler on Plateau due to the strong winds and high elevation Cloudless, very strong W. winds, gale-force on Plateau