Reads Tower at Sparrowhawk

Reads Tower from the Col

Reads Tower from the Col

Tuesday July 14th 2015

Set off up the Smith Dorrien ( Spray Lakes Rd ) road from Canmore to the Mt Sparrowhawk day use area at about 20 km. The weather was not looking that great so the plan was to get up to the Col under Reads Tower and decided whether it was worth going for the summit of Mt Sparrowhawk.  At the Col we could not see the summit so went so went on to Reads Tower. As we had passed the normal route from Reads Ridge we went down on the south side ( left looking down ) and found a rocky gully up onto the summit ridge. Some elevation was lost to gain this access.

Turn cairn from tarns trail to Sparrowhawk ,Reads Tower

Turn cairn from tarns trail to Sparrowhawk ,Reads Tower

The trail past this point becomes very steep unlike the trail up to the tarns.

Steep going past the sign

Steep going past the sign

Reads Ridge opens up after  the steep grunt up.

Reads Tower and top left Sparrowhawk

Reads Tower and top left Sparrowhawk. Foreground Reads Ridge

The normal route up the Tower would be to the right at the top of the green ridge. We went left up the scree to the Col. Sparrowhawk is just hiding in the clouds.

Left of Reads Tower

Left of Reads Tower

 

 

Top of the gully

Top of the gully

 

Summit of Reads Tower

Summit of Reads Tower

 

View of Sparrowhawk from Reads Tower

View of Sparrowhawk from Reads Tower

 

The way we decended to the Tarns trail

The way we descended to the Tarns trail

On the descent we went lower down the summit ridge and into the green area. The Tarn trail runs along the bottom of the valley and we joined it at this point where I took this picture.

ReadsTower

ReadsTower profile

Distance return 9.25 km Time return 6 hrs ( inc 30 min lunch ) Elevation Accumulated gain 1090 m Elevation to Summit 930 m Summit height 2666 m

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Left turn for Reads Tower & Mt Sparrowhawk

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Left turn for Reads Tower & Mt Sparrowhawk

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