Mount Calowahcan, Mission Mountain Tribal Wilderness

Mount Calowahcan, taken a few miles north of St. Ignatius just off of Highway 93.

As I've gotten more into peak bagging over the past year or so, I'm slowly coming to learn what peaks in the area are considered test piece climbs. One of those is Mount Calowahcan in the Missions, pictured above, and which you can see coming over the hill into St. Ignatius from Missoula.

Thus far peak bagging has been a solo affair for me, but when doing more difficult climbs a climber shouldn't go alone. With this in mind, I recently joined the Rocky Mountaineers, which is a Missoula-based hiking and climbing club. This past weekend, one of their members, Dan Saxton, organized a climb up Mt. Calwahcan. Although I was pretty nervous about going, given its class 4 rating, I joined him, and it was just the two of us.

We left the Eagle Pass trail about 1/2 mile in and followed a creek through an unusual canyon filled with cedar, where little-to-no sun hits the forest floor, so that there's very little ground vegetation. We gained the ridge (on the left) too soon and had to suffer through some pretty bad bushwacking before gaining the upper ridge. On the way back down, Dan dropped us into the canyon further up and it was much easier going, so in hindsight, it would have been better to walk further along the creek before gaining the ridge. 

The total elevation gain to the summit is 5700 feet, most of which occurs after the first mile-plus along the trail and creek. So after leaving the creek you climb fast to the ridge, where eventually things open up, and then on steeply to the summit. 

Looking out toward the valley. Dan hiking up the northwest ridge, after it finally opened up.

Mt Calowahcan summit.

We continued on the ridge until near the summit, and then traversed out on the scree/talus field that extends below the summit cliffs onto the west face. See the next picture.

We traversed out along the scree/talus field below the summit cliffs in the lower third of the picture.

Dan heading out onto the traverse, which was easy walking.

Another shot further out along the traverse. You can see McDonald Peak, the south summit of Calowahcan and Lolo Peak.

The first obvious opportunity for ascent as you traverse out is to head up under the chimney in the next picture and then follow ledges out onto the face. Studying the summit cliffs from further down on the ridge (see the third picture above), I thought this looked like the way to go up, so when we got there, I wanted to give it a shot, but instead we kept traversing. (We ended up coming down this way, and it felt much easier than our route up.)

Dan below the chimney.

Dan further out along the traverse looking up toward the route we climbed up.  

The next picture shows what we ended up climbing. It looks harder in the picture than it actually was, but it was definitely more exposed and difficult, even going up, than was our descent route. I would have preferred to be roped up for this short section, especially for gaining the last ledge, which involved a very exposed, i.e., falling not an option, vertical rock move.

This is where we went up. There were four (or so) ledges to gain, each one more difficult than the last. The final two ledges required a vertical rock move that wasn't hard, but that also wasn't easy with hiking boots, a pack, and exposure. Finally, the move on the last ledge forced you out onto the face and was very exposed.

Thankfully, above the ledges the climbing was much easier.

On the summit: McDonald Peak (left) and Sheep's Head (right) behind me. What an awesome peak and day.

The peaks of Glacier in the distance looking north

Looking south, the south summit, McDonald and Sheep's Head Peaks, and Lolo Peak off in the distance.

Me on the summit with the Swans behind.

Dan Saxton happy on the summit.

Looking across the north face at the Swan Range.

Our descent route is vaguely described in the next picture and caption and also looked to be the standard route to the summit, judging from the signs of use. Also, as I said above, from the ridge below it looks to be most natural route up. It's rated class 4 and so requires care, but it was definitely easier (even to come down) than was our route up through the ledges. Without question, this is the way I'll go when I do the climb next time. 

We came down to the right of the chimney, through the broken ledges interspersed among the green areas you see in the picture, then traversed into the scree field below the chimney.

Here I am coming down below the chimney.

It was a fantastic day, a truly awesome peak, and a great adventure. However, the reader should know that Mount Calowahcan is a burly peak to summit on various levels: physically, mentally, and in terms of route finding and climbing ability. It is certainly not for everyone, but I loved it. Thanks to Dan for taking me up this awesome peak.

Dan on the way down. 

On the way down, Dan looking south at McDonald Peak. The south summit of Calowahcan is near on the right.

Another shot of the Swan along the north face.

And one final shot further down.

Calowahcan's neighbors: McDonald and Sheep's Head.