Alpine Scramble - Red Mountain (Commonwealth Basin)

A group of 6 total headed out from the Kendal Katwalk TH shortly before 8:30 am. The lower lot was already full at this time. We took the commonwealth basin trail for a more direct approach to Red. Hardly any water in the creek right now. Made for easy crossings. 

It took around 2 hours to reach the switchback where the group decided we would take the more hands-on scramble approach up the ridge instead of following the class 2 trail up. 

We traversed over to the ridge which involves some heather and loose rock. Once on the ridge it's a bit easier to find solid rock but there's more loose rock than I remember! Need to be careful and mange the group safely to avoid party inflicted rock fall. 

The group did great and had a fun time scrambling up.

Eventually we hit the merge with the main trail. Things became a bit easier but still a lot of loose rock! 

We took around 45 minutes to enjoy the weather, views, and eat lunch at the top. It was a beautiful day. 

Beautiful views all around, especially of Mt Thomson! 
We could even see the fall colors coming out over on Kendall Peak
The trip down was slow moving (no photos) to avoid knocking rocks down on each other. We let several other parties pass, including a dog! 
We safely made it back to the trailhead around 3pm. 
Total trip time around 7 hours. 

Very fun and successful trip for my second mentored scramble lead!