Crowsnest Mountain Summit Traditional Geocache
Crowsnest Mountain Summit
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A cache near the summit of Crowsnest Mountain (2785m).
Crow is one of my favorite scrambles and the first mountian I ever peaked (this cache was placed on my third assent). There is a well defined trail, lots of hands-on scrambling and some great scree for the way down. Of all the mountains in the Crowsnest area this is the only one where you are likely to see anyone else which is the only drawback (and may not be for more sociable folk). The cache is made of plumbing pipe like many summit registers.
Off of Highway 3 take Allison Creek Road (west of Coleman) 9.7 km to an obvious pullout on the gravel road. Park here and walk west about 100m on a quad trail until you reach another quad trail that runs parallel with Allison Creek Road. Here you will see a sign detailing the route (make note of the Hazard section which warns against 'Killer Marmots'). To get to the trailhead walk south until you see a well defined trail heading towards the col between Crowsnest and 7 Sisters (there is a sign that encourages packing out your garbage at this point). From here you really can't get lost, just follow the path most traveled.
On the way up you will have to climb up two steep gullies with lots of loose rock. I would recommend a helmet and an ice axe if you like the axe for slogging up loose rock; I found myself wishing I had both items. Please take extreme care if there are other parties in the gullies for your own sake and for the safety of others. At the top of the upper gully as I was heading down I was forced to wait about 20 minutes for about 10 people to come up to avoid sending a shower of rocks down on them. Also, don't try finding easier routes, they don't exist.
Before finding this cache please be prepared and use a resource such as Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies by Alan Kane for detailed trail information.
There is a $5 gift certificate from MEC for FTF.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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