Hi I’m Nick. This is my scrambling and mountain blog “Steep Sheep”! This is where I post trip reports for some of the peaks and highpoints that I’ve ventured up. The vast majority of these peaks are from the Canadian Rockies, with a select few reports from my travels to New Zealand and Australia. While some routes are up popular alpine tracks, many are up semi-remote peaks that have limited markings leading the way. I hope to offer readers insight into some of the lesser known peaks (or unofficially named ones) with this blog.
The difficulty ratings I’ve assigned are mostly based on Alan Kane’s (2016) ratings in the 3rd Edition of Scrambles. For more technical routes, I rely on the French mountaineering grades as used in Bill Corbett’s 11,000ers of the Canadian Rockies 2nd Edition (2016). I often hyphenate my scrambling ratings, for example, an “easy-moderate” implies that the route is mostly the first descriptor, easy, with some brief sections of moderate scrambling.
Mostly Hiking: As the title implies, mostly hiking involves modest or difficult hiking but no hands on scrambling to be expected, minimal falling/injury risk.
Easy: Mostly hiking with some hands-on scrambling; minimal falling/injury risk though not risk-free. Possible brief exposure to “no-fall” zones.
Moderate: Steeper aspects, more hands-on sections; increased falling/injury risk, likely travel through fatal ‘no-fall’ zones, possible route-finding.
Difficult: More sustained route-finding, sustained hands-on sections; smaller or trickier holds, sustained or high falling/injury risk; prolonged travel through fatal ‘no-fall’ zones, crux sections may involve low 5th class climbing moves.
Technical or Mountaineering: use of ropes for either rock climbing and or glacier travel.
FULL DISCLAIMER – hiking, scrambling and mountaineering are inherently dangerous activities. Many of these trips involve travel through high-risk terrain. These reports, while an honest retelling of personal experience and containing route descriptions, should not be solely relied on when heading into the back country. Always consult multiple sources before heading out, and try to focus on the most recent beta available whenever possible. While my difficulty ratings are generally consistent with other sources, they are highly subjective!!!!
^That’s me scrambling towards the summit block on Mount Whyte, Banff National Park. Photo by @scotty_p_haggis
Steep Sheep 