Yamnuska is a classic introduction to scrambling. Chimneys, chains, – all looks and sounds scary and it is indeed a little bit shaky. But the biggest surprise this Sunday was a foot deep snow which essentially turned everything above the tree line into a nice winter hike. I left crampons in the car but apparently my Helly Hansen boots have nice grip which works very well on fresh packed snow. With some extra care on icy rocks I made it […]
A nice short half-day hike with one easy staircase-style scramble section about 500 meters from the trailhead. The rest of the trail goes around the peak to the col connecting Grizzly and Evan-Thomas, and then straight to the summit. Once I got there, I was out of weather luck, and the view of nearby mountains Evan Thomas and Packenham was a bit cloudy, but still exceptional: It make sense to walk from the summit all the way to the Opal […]
This is definitely an undervalued route. It’s steep from the very beginning, and that is good because you don’t have to warm yourself up for several kilometers through a boring forest just to get to the fun stuff. There are a few scrambling sites, and by scrambling I mean hanging the hiking poles on one arm and using teeth and both hands to pull up. Some sections have loose rocks, and one might say even “exposure”, but nothing too scary […]
On the picture above there is The Rimwall mountain, as it’s seen from the Wind Ridge, which we hiked a few weeks ago. Looks pretty intimidating from Dead Man’s Flats side, but from the South-West slopes it’s a surprisingly very pleasant hike, moderately challenging and highly rewarding. Allocate half day for it, but to really enjoy it you do need good weather. Don’t get scared away with foggy Spray Lakes in the morning, it happens more often that you might […]
Because of BC wildfires smoke here and there I was not sure about a hike this weekend till the very last moment, and only when saw that Three Sisters are more or less visible from Bear & Bison Inn life cam, decided not to drive far but finally to try North Mount Collembola Route from Dead Man’s Flats. The original intention was to do the Collembola – Allan loop to avoid bushwhacking on the way back, but everything above 3000m […]
Wind Ridge Trail in Exshaw surprised us pretty much with everything: well maintained, not too long, challenging enough, with a little bit of scrambling fun, shady forest, almost no people, and most importantly, incredible views of our favorite Kananaskis peaks from totally unexpected angle, impressive and intimidating. We started early (we always do) and air was more or less clear in the morning, but then wind from the West started to bring lots of smoke from BC fires, and unfortunately […]
Mount Sparrowhawk is a 3,121-metre (10,240 ft) mountain summit located in Kananaskis Country in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Mount Sparrowhawk’s nearest higher peak is Mount Bogart, 3.6 km (2.2 mi) to the southeast. Mount Sparrowhawk was named in 1917 for HMS Sparrowhawk, a British destroyer that sank during the Battle of Jutland in World War I. This mountain’s name was officially adopted in 1922 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. The first ascent of the peak was […]
Castle Mountain is located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castle Mountain Fault which has thrust older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks forming the upper part of the mountain over the younger rocks forming its base. The mountain’s castellated, or castle-like, appearance is a result of erosive processes acting at different rates on the peak’s […]
Mount Jimmy Simpson is a 2,966-metre (9,731-foot) summit located 3 km (1.9 miles) northwest of Bow Lake in Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. It is a member of the Waputik Mountains, and is situated east of the Wapta Icefield and west of the Bow River valley. Mount Jimmy Simpson can be seen from the Icefields Parkway at Bow Lake. Mount Jimmy Simpson is named for Jimmy Simpson (1877–1972) who was a respected outfitter in the […]
Most of people just hike 6km to the Helen Lake, spend some time there and return back to the cozy parking lot at HW93, right across the Crowfoot Glacier viewpoint. The lake usually provides a nice reflection and definitely worth a trip. But if you have extra 1.5-2 hours, the views from the nearby Cirque Peak are fascinating. And it’s a hike most of the time, with easy scramble in like only 3 places on the way up and 2 […]