Coral Mountain (Dark Storm)

According to Bivouac.com the 3156 meter peak sitting just off of Job Pass to the east - northeast was named “Coral Mountain” by the Rockies explorer Arthur P. Coleman in 1892 due to a plethora of fossils on its west ridge. For some reason this name seems not to have stuck and has been replaced with “Dark Storm Peak” on most maps and references that I could find. It was first ascended by the topographical survey in 1928 and the next recorded ascent that I could find was in 1954 by R.H. McDowell. Who knows how many have wandered over to this remote peak in a remote area only accessible by either hiking or horseback? I’ll bet not very many.

In 2024, while exiting the area with Sara after an epic 4.5 day loop to Job Lake and Obstruction Mountain, we planned an ascent of Coral Mountain but ended up doing the more remote Night Rider Peak instead. Ironically on the exact same trip we ran into Ephraim Roberts who did make an ascent of Coral and indeed, found all the fossils that Coleman was talking about. I would like to see it return to the name that the intrepid Rockies explorer first gave it, but perhaps it’s too confusing with a “Coral Ridge” located in the same range, albeit much closer to the road.

After tagging Circle Game Peak the day previous, Wietse and I awoke to the sounds of cheerful birds at our camp under the pines at the junction of the Job Pass and Coral Lakes trail at 04:30. I can’t say we were feeling quite as cheerful as the surrounding aviary but we were able to extradite ourselves from our warm, comfortable sleeping bags and choke down some coffee at least. It’s the small things that count at times such as these.

Early morning as we hike up the Job Pass trail.

Today was going to be a good adventure and longer than most. We planned to exit and drive back to YYC after scrambling Coral Mountain, so by 05:30 we were marching up the Job Pass trail to find yet another access drainage to yet another peak off the beaten track. It didn’t take long, shortly after passing the only camp located up the Job Pass trail from the junction we realized that our drainage was to our right. Off the Job Pass trail, heading through willows to the obvious access drainage into Coral Mountain.

A short but fierce willow-whack later and we were in the streambed and filling our water bottles for the ascent ahead.

We deviated out of the lower access drainage on climber’s left to avoid the narrow channel and deep pools below.

We followed the rocky drainage until it narrowed significantly and threatened deep pools and waterfalls. At this point we deviated climber’s left and followed a mix of sheep trails and open terrain alongside the dramatic little canyon that we were avoiding below. Our traverse line into the valley between Fence Post and Coral worked perfectly – we even found a sheep highway in the scree. Soaring cliffs overhead and huge boulders that obviously shed off them in some distant past made for a very scenic hike into a giant bowl south of our objective.

Early morning views back to sunrise on Circle Game (L) and Quixote (C) over the Job Pass trail.

Mighty rock gates lead into the rocky bowl between Coral Mountain (L) and Fence Post (R).

It wasn’t immediately obvious exactly where our best ascent line lay, but we followed our noses and a GPS track that I’d received from Ephraim’s descent a year previous.

Coral Mountain looms over Wietse in the distance now.

After trudging up lower scree and rubble slopes we curved gently climber’s right to a watercourse running down friendly slabs.The slabs provided excellent relief from the horrendously loose scree and was a huge boost to our mental and physical energy after quite the slog on Circle Game the day before.

Coral Mountain. We will access SW ascent slopes at left, rising to upper center photo.

Yup! Another scree grind awaits! Thankfully there are some intermittent slabs higher up today.

Very foreshortened views up to the summit. We will deviate climber’s right of the waterfall visible at upper left.

Our route will go climber’s right up obvious slabs here.

Slabs and scree. Scree on slabs. We do this for fun ya know!

A few hundred vertical meters below the top the terrain got quite loose again making for a tiring final ascent. The views certainly helped though, with stunning vistas in every direction.

Views past Fence Post over our approach drainage to Circle Game and Strong Winds peaks.

The summit rises above, still a long way off!

Incredible views off the upper summit ridge between the true (L) and false (R) summit into the upper Bighorn River valley below.

Finally 3 hours after leaving our camp, we topped out on the summit ridge to some stunning views into the headwater valley of the Bighorn River towards Cloud Buster, Hangman and Night Rider Peak. Morning lighting combined with green alpine meadows and clouds to form that perfect canvas that only dedicated peakbaggers and hikers know and love. I have to admit that I was overcome with weariness just showing Wietse where Sara and I had managed to go the year before on our epic hiking and peakbagging journey into the area . I honestly don’t understand how I find the energy sometimes – and I had a broken back when we did it. Arg.

Summit views include the upper Bighorn River valley at lower left and peaks include Hangman, Fence Post, Circle Game, Quixote, Horseshoe and many others.

The lush meadows of the upper Bighorn River below with Night Rider Peak at left and Cloud Buster left of center. Hangman Peak at distant center along with many lofty, unnamed peaks.

The huge access valley to Night Rider Peak below to the north with the snowy peak at left. Thank goodness there’s an old trail up the lower part of this valley from the Job Creek valley further to the left under Carousel Peak.

After spending 30 minutes enjoying the views and naming many of the surrounding summits we reluctantly turned to the waiting descent. “Reluctantly”, because we knew we had a LONG day yet, and the views weren’t going to improve any. Ah well. They can’t all be short ‘n easy can they? For some reason we decided to try a different descent line and started down the west ridge from the summit. This provided some nice positions on a semi-exposed ridge but eventually we ran into difficulties and were forced to find another route.

Continuing down the west ridge to find out if there’s easier descent slopes. Hint: There isn’t.

Descending an airy west ridge off the summit. Continuing down the west ridge to find out if t

“Easier” descent slopes aren’t easier at all. They are horribly loose with slabs buried randomly underneath.

Views back up the horribly foreshortened south face descent slopes we foolishly used.

We plunged down a huge south rubble bowl, sending rock and scree avalanches down below AND above us! Needless to say, this is not a recommended line but it did work out eventually.

Huge terrain looms over our access drainage.

Fence Post Peak doesn’t look very easy from any angle unfortunately. But who knows? Has anyone ever tried?

Rubble field on exit through the rock gates.

Following a sheep highway out of the access drainage.

On exit from the south bowl we managed to find and follow another sheep highway right to alpine meadows alongside the access drainage. From there it was a short hike and desperate willow-whack and we were back on the Job Pass trail.

Continuing out of the access drainage under Quixote Peak to the Job Pass trail.

Circle Game and Quixote Peak steal the show as the sun plays games with shadows in the meadows below.

Sure enough! In line with my previous experience in this area, Wietse brought my attention to two large grizzlies just off the trail to our left on exit.

Two large grizzlies gaze back at us from across Coral Creek. This is a wide angle lens so they are much closer than they appear!

Once again this area provided us with more grizzlies than sheep or humans, they certainly seem to have a preference for it. Thinking about it, it’s pretty much grizzly paradise up there with open meadows, quick trails to traverse areas and very few humans away from the main horse camps. It was a special moment when they stood up, looked over at us intensely and then ran the other way. At least the bears in this area seem to avoid humans just as they should.

Exiting the Job Pass trail back to camp.

Back on the endless trail down Coral Creek. Or in this case apparently UP.

Six hours after leaving camp we were back, and by noon we had camp packed up and were marching down the Coral Creek trail for a very distant parking lot. Once again the math was what we concentrated on and the numbers told us that it was going to be around 7 more hours to the truck. I decided on a strategy to assist with the mental game that is always part of these long treks. Every half hour I could eat one peppermint. Then I played games with myself, delaying the mints for an extra 10 minutes and taking as long as possible to suck on them before chewing. Yes – it’s the little things that keep one engaged on endless, mindless, difficult hikes!

These sufferfests are interesting. Almost immediately our shoulders started to hurt from the heavierthan-normal packs. Our feet hurt a bit too. But after hours of pain it starts to dull and eventually things don’t hurt anymore. As on approach the day before (which felt like a week for some reason) it took longer than expected for the creek crossings to start but once they did, it helped pass the time. Every crossing was an event, so with more events we felt time go a little quicker. It didn’t go that quick however, and we were both feeling pretty sore (eventually the body sends the pain signals again) by the time we finally spotted the last crossing near a scenic falls that plunges down a cliff into the creek.

A short stretch of sand along Coral Creek.

The kilometers continued to tick by as we slowly ascended the big hill back to the waiting bikes. A fast furious ride back to the parking lot completed a 40km, 13.5 hour day.

One last push up the “big hill” before a fun, fast 4km ride to the parking lot.

I can’t say that the scrambling on this trip was especially epic or engaging, but when you decide to tackle the Coral Creek and Job Lake area you shouldn’t be doing it for the climbing or scrambling. This area is special for other reasons. It’s the endless rushing creeks, the alpine meadows, the grizzlies, the pine forests and fresh smelling wildflowers. It’s the lack of humans and the feeling that there is nobody around you for kilometers in every direction. It’s the solitude and the views over an ocean of named and unnamed peaks marching row after row in every direction as you top out on a wild ridge in the middle of nowhere. I’ll be back. Just maybe not as soon as next year. But then again – who really knows? 😉