Notes: A vehicle with decent clearance is needed for the drive in, 4×4 too when not fully dry.
Trip Report
Provided your vehicle can handle the drive in, Tripoli Mountain is an excellent little scramble on decent quality rock. Coulthard and Nearingburg grade this as a difficult scramble, but I only found it to have about two moves of upper-moderate scrambling. Factoring in Cadomin’s famous high winds though, I can be persuaded to bump this one up to lower-difficult scrambling. Don’t forget to pack extra layers, that wind has bite! The trail starts from a good-sized gravel pull-out with an outhouse and signage for Cardinal Divide Staging Area, the same parking as for Cardinal Divide Ridge.
Cheviot Mountain is the furthest peak at the right here, and Tripoli Mountain is the next one in. We happened to park at the same time as a group of locals who shared a bit more of a route description: Leave the trail and aim for the grassy hill (behind my pony-tail in this photo), behind which cairns will guide you up the broad gully (above my pony-tail).A handful of braiding OHV trails head southwest from the parking lot, but they all trend in the same direction. We turned off of the trail after 1.9 km. There was nothing to mark the turn, we simply plotted the easiest looking line through the meadow to our right.The meadow had a few low-lying bushy sections, but the brush was never more than hip-deep and travel was generally easy. The grassy hill we are aiming for is ahead at center-right. As we neared the hill, we trended left to maintain elevation around a drainage, which naturally lead us onto a game trail.Continuing along the game trail lead us into the gully and then up its right side. A large cairn marks the point where the traversing trail turns upslope, making it easy to spot the turn again on the way out. We will top out just above my head in this photo.We were grateful for the gully’s solid rock which provided a swift ascent. This is a great place to stop for a snack, while still sheltered from the wind. Looking back, Cardinal Divide Ridge can be seen in the background.Looking back (south) as Dan tops out of the ridge, with Mount MacKenzie in the background. The brutal, roaring wind was everything we’d been promised for the area! Many hikers are content to gain the nearby high point, calling it Tripoli Ridge. But, our objective for the day is Tripoli Mountain, which is still about 3 km away.Two false summits are passed on the way to Tripoli Mountain. Tagging them on is little extra effort, but not required. The rock is solid and virtually no effort to side-hill across. The first false summit is quite small, and a good game trail bypasses the second false summit. The peak directly ahead of me in this photo is Cheviot, and Tripoli is just peeking out at the right.Views to the west (left) are of the impressive black cliff faces of Blackface Mountain. We spotted a well-used OHV trail in the valley between Tripoli and Blackface and wondered whether a bike could save time on the approach to Cheviot, but that adventure will have to wait for another day!Just as we approached the final push to the peak, and the only technical scrambling of the day, a dark stormfront moved in rapidly from the west. My weather forecast showed that the clouds were likely to clear in 30 min, so we made the decision to shelter behind the ridge as best we could and wait it out. This 30 min duration spent being pummeled by ice pellets is omitted from the trip time.The stormfront passed as quickly as it had approached and 30 min later we were beginning the technical scrambling portion of the route. This first thin section of slab climbing was the probably the trickiest moves of the day, but it wasn’t exposed. It’s also very possible that an easier line exists to the left.I am quite a fan of slab climbing, but Dan didn’t like this first section and the high winds did nothing to improve his confidence. He chose to wait below this part while I quickly tagged the summit.Looking down on what Coulthard and Nearingburg identify as the crux, after having passed it. Good hands and feet exist along climber’s left on the ridge (the right side of this photo), and the gravel below this traverse is only ~2m down. To exit the traverse and regain the ridge I used a high hand-foot match. If these moves aren’t within one’s range-of-motion, the obvious alternative line along the top of the ridge would be much more exposed, a difficult scramble. Another alternative line might be possible to climber’s left, but probably isn’t easier than the traverse.From his vantage point below, Dan grabbed a photo of me making my way up the ridge.I encountered one last difficult-looking section, steps from the peak, but this was easily bypassed to the left.Victory selfie! Cheviot Mountain can be seen in the background (north).Summit panorama.The high winds motivated me to limit my stay at the top, but I did stop for one timed photo with Blackface Mountain (right). I was also pleasantly surprised to find that a summit register had been placed only three days prior, which I spared a few seconds to sign.I returned the way I came. The route looks deceptively simple from this angle, with the tricky bits hidden from view. I can’t even spot Dan.I met back up with Dan and we made our way back below the two false summits. We stopped for a snack break at the top the broad gully before starting our descent, relieved to finally be out of the wind and able to hold onto a food wrapper!
We picked out the same game trail on our way out, easily winding our way back around to the meadow before following the braided OHV trails back to the parking lot. Our round trip time was 6 hrs (excluding 30 min spent sheltering from a mini-storm). Tripoli Mountain is a good quality scramble and a great short day out!
Peak Bliss 