South Gully, Narao Peak 2024

South Gully, Narao Peak, 2974 metres - June 6th, 2024

Synopsis: 4 stars, South Gully is a 50 degree couloir on the NE side of Narao Peak and proved to be a great day out. The approach was straightforward but interesting, the area below the gully was one I hadn't been into and offered a great view of Popes Peak and surrounding mountains. Fun, straightforward climbing up the gully as we had supportive snow the whole way. I now realize that you can see much of the lower part of the route and bowl itself from highway 1 east of Lake O'Hara

Paul and I parked by the western end of the old closed highway 1A from Lake O'Hara to Lake Louise and were heading east at 4:40 am. A quick trip on blacktop to the Ross Lake turn off and headed towards Ross Lake. It was nice and cool as we actually had an overnight freeze.

At Ross Lake we mistakenly took the trail heading to the ridge route on Narao and back tracked to the Lake itself. The correct trail is a bit faint and follows the edge of Ross Lake around to the far side. We then gained elevation through snow wherever possible followed by fairyly easy ground. Below treeline we did get sucked into being too far climbers left and bushwacked a bit to gain the trail, Gaia has a correct trail through this area.

We then pulled out mountaineering axe and crampons for the long snowy traverse to the left to gain the bowl. We were lucky enough to have a decent overnight freeze so it was straightforward which was a good thing as there are consequences to a slide through here.

Once the bowl is gained it's pretty straightforward to the base of the route. It was great to be in an area that I hadn't visited before. Pope's peak and the north couloir was straight ahead and an interesting view of Mount Whyte to the left. Well into the bowl we veered off the Divide Mountain Trail and headed towards the NE slopes of Narao.

Both the South and North Gully's come into full view and we discussed which to pursue. The South looked the most interesting and given it's a Chouinard route the decision was made. The sun had started to make an impact although we were afforded some shade from passing clouds. We stopped to gear up near the bottom of the fans below the gully at roughly 8:30 making it a 4 hour approach (albiet with a couple of navigational errors).

The photo above shows both options well, the South Gully being on the left. Climbing the fan proved to be a sun baked hot affair although we took solace in the fact that most of the gully itself was still in the shade and nothing was moving. Once in the gully itself (and yes, why it's not called a couloir is beyond me) the snow continued to be supportive and the rope stayed in the pack.

There is a bit of a rock pinch point 2/3 of the way up however it passed easily on the right and the pitch eased off a bit until the very top. We both used two axes of various types and there was a short bit of front pointing however the bulk of it was good buckets. From time to time we had a bit of spindrifting down the middle however it was easily avoided.

The South Gully ends very close to the summit and we were on top right around 1:00 pm, into a howling wind that reminded us to watch for cornices along the ridgetop. We huddled in a wind scoop under the summit to add layers and grab a quick snack but it was no place to linger.

The descent wasn't that straight forward however we started off following the Narao Peak Route on Gaia which was helpful and after toughly 200 meters dropped down from the ridge following snow slopes below. The travel was good although we stayed above a cliff band before dropping down to the obvious bench.

At this stage the decision was whether to follow the bench feature to the north and rejoin the old 1A or take a trail straight down to the Lake O'Hara road. We chose the latter and my sense is that it wasn't the best option. I wouldn't recommend it as the trail get's very faint and was slow going. Having said that eventually we broke out on the Lake O'Hara road and followed it back to the car. 

All told it was a 13 1/2 hour day with 1320 metres of climbing, a great outing in a great setting. In the right conditions I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.