Elevation Gain: 1,348m
Distance: 9.14km
Total Time: 7 hours 57 minutes
Date: June 22nd, 2025
Steven, Elise, Francois and myself had just successfully reached the summit of Downton Peak. Ahead us laid our primary goal for the day: Mount Nraiteskel. We had one problem. The afternoon was calling for rain and potential thunderstorms. Indeed to the north some sort of system was moving in. If the forecast was accurate we’d have at least a few hours to get up and down the summit, so might as well try. With that we shipped off the top of Downtown Peak.
Steven lead the way down some isothermal snow to a low point in the ridge where continuous snow slopes ran on the north side towards to Nraiteskel. We had read that the ridge to Nraiteskel does not connect easily, so Steven had already scoped this snow slopes out as a bypass. Seeing it in person, it would certainly go. We donned some crampons and ice axes and down climbed one short steep section and then weaved our way through snow fingers until reaching a tame bench below. The snow was total mush and made for crappy travel, but the bench offered much easier walking.
We walked along the bench until an obvious weakness in the ridge to Nraiteskel and then booted up to the top. It looked like all scrambling from here so we ditched the snow gear and started the ascent up on immaculate granite. Steven and I paired up while Francois and Elise formed a separate team in case the weather only allowed for the two of us to reach the top. We hit our first crux early on involving a stiff 4th class move, but no real exposure. Steven find a slightly better chimney option and Elise and Francois opted for that as well.
Here we split up a bit and Steven and I generally stuck to the east side of the ridge crest and finally shifted over onto the west side around 2500m. As we changed aspects we were met with around 10 centimetres of fresh snow. Thankfully, this section had no exposure or real challenges so we reached the summit not long after. We had a quick snack and then headed off as the clouds were coming in quickly. Elise and Francois had already turned back so we’d meet them at the ridge lower down.
As we reached the snow-free east side again some snow flakes started to arrive on scene. The weather held off though and we descended all of the technical terrain without any problems. In fact, the route finding was much easier on the way down and we found a bypass via cairn to avoid that 4th class crux. I would say with careful route finding this could almost be a stiff 3rd class route.
Once at the base of the ridge, we descended down to the lakes on the east side and here the down pour commenced. What luck to be off of all the terrain already! The final challenge of the day was the steep headwall below the lakes. Our luck would continue though and we found an old game trail through a loose but manageable rib down to an easy gully. After a bit of vege-belaying we were in the basin below and had a lovely walk out to the truck.
It’s too bad the access is degraded, because this area is phenomenal. It certainly lived up to my expectations and more. I think the extra road walk from Viola Lake would be worth it and I would recommend this area to anyone looking for a fun scramble.