Geocache file generated by BrassCapCache BrassCapCache 2026-03-09T00:01:11.0000000-07:00 cache, geocache, groundspeak 2676.311 2010-07-20T02:00:00-06:00 BCP476 Gibralter Mountain by outforthehunt, Benchmark (1.5/5) http://brasscap.albertabattlecache.ca/capbreakdown/BCP476.html Gibralter Mountain Geocache Geocache|Benchmark Gibralter Mountain outforthehunt outforthehunt Benchmark Virtual 1.5 5 Canada Alberta <a href='http://brasscap.albertabattlecache.ca/capbreakdown/BCP476.html'TARGET='resource window'>Past Finds for BCP476</a> <a href='https://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?ID=17395&LogType=2'TARGET='resource window'>Log Your Find</a> 30 cm deep, 3 m S. of drop off Elevation 2676m 30cm deep and 3m south of drop off 2010-07-20T20:00:00 Found it Takin it Easy BCP476 Gibralter Mountain Posted N50° 35.348 W114° 49.793 GPSr N50° 35.351 W114° 49.796 Another very memorable brass cap hike that tops the one up Crownsest Mountain as far as personal accomplishments go. As Sleepy_hollow mentioned in his great summary, the selected route was to hike the Mist Ridge loop and add on a detour up Gibraltar (correct sp.) Mountain. Our total trek ended up being 32km in horizontal distance with a cumulative elevation gain of almost 2400m. Given the net gain was just over 1000m, it is obvious there were some pretty major downs and ups along the way. The most challenging was the loss of 300m and gain of 500m at the 12km mark that had to be tackled again on the return trip off of Gibraltar Mountain. We departed the car at just before 6AM and returned to the car in the dark at just before 12:30AM for an 18.5hr journey. We had expected to complete the task a couple of hours earlier but there were a few challenges that slowed us down. Most involved, as SH mentioned, route finding issues which resulted in some backtracking and significant downclimbing and ascending. The most memorable challenge was the onset of the significant thunderstorm that hit the area at 8PM after great weather all day. At this time SH and I were 75m vertically from the north summit of Mist Ridge after returning from Gibraltar. When the thunder and lightning started, we elected to take cover at a small rock alcove and wait out the storm which came on us quickly. When a break in the thunder appeared we elected to complete the ridge ascent and get down the backside as soon as we could. Just after cresting the ridge lightning hit the area again and before we could react a bolt hit with simultaneous thunder that was close enough for static to shock a couple of fingers that were on my trekking pole. The sound was deafening and the light intense. We tossed our poles and hit the ground were we were hit with hail for about 15 minutes before it finally passed. All that remained was a 13km trek off the ridge and along the Mist Creek in the valley. Sun had set with 9km to go and the last few hours involed hiking at a very quick pace with headlamps along the water soaked trails in the rain. It really was a fantastic outing (now that we're home <img src="/images/icons/icon_smile_wink.gif" border="0" align="middle" />) and SH was a great hiking partner who provided me with lots of encouragement, great conversation and taught me more scrambling skills. To anyone who plans to tackle this cap in the future, I would suggest looking into taking a route that follows the Sheep River and then ascend to the col west of Gibraltar Mountain. There appeared to be a trail that crossed the col heading NW/SE towards the river. Bypassing the Mist Ridge portion of our hike (which is a great hike on its own) would cut the distance and elevation gain considerably. Ascending the ridge as soon as possible is also the best way to go. Thanks for another great cap outing OFTH. I won't soon forget this one. 2010-07-20T20:00:00 Found it Sleepy_hollow BCP476 - Gibralter Mountain Takin’ It Easy and I got our usual early start and hit the trail with a few stops at the local caches and a trip to Gibralter Mountain from the north summit of Mist Ridge (using the route described by Andrew Nugara - http://members.shaw.ca/anugara3/gibraltar.htm to find the newly published cap at the mountain summit. The route as described in Nugara’s trip report is long and involves significant elevation gain and route finding challenges as you approach the mountain. The best advice for anyone planning to do the scramble is to achieve the ridge early (it looks intimidating from Mist Ridge, but is quite do-able) and follow it the entire length to the old summit and a further 500 metres to the Alberta Survey marker and the newly accepted summit as indicated in the summit logs. The crux of the ridge walk to the summit are a number of significant rock fins which are easily climbable on their north side, but have a good sized drop on the south. As you approach the rock fins (approximately 200 metres from the cap), lose one hundred metres of elevation, scramble around the base of each of these features, and then head directly back up the ridge and the summit a short distance later. The views from the cap are truly amazing and they afford different perspectives on a number of mountain summits in the area. The summit area is not at all congested and affords the visitor lots of space to take numerous photos and perhaps have a well earned lunch. When signing the summit log we were the first visitors since 2008 and two of only a relative handful of visitors since the summit log was put in place by the Alpine Club of Canada. Finding this cap was a difficult affair due to the distance and significant elevation gain. The actual scrambling on the mountain was really pretty straight forward. Thanks OFTH for this terrific cap and to Takin’ It Easy for the fine company on the trail – a most challenging and worthwhile spot to visit! I'll post a few pictures of this spot a little later. This entry was edited by Sleepy_hollow on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 at 21:33:44.