Back
HomeBig Sister
| Back Home |
Big Sister |
| Elevation 2936m Height Gain Time to Reach Summit Degree of Difficulty Scenery Date of Most-recent Ascent |
From Canmore, follow signs to Spray Lake. Keep going past the Nordic Center. Once you pass the Grassi Lakes turn off the road degrades to washboard gravel. This is the north end of the dusty Smith-Dorrien Highway. Continue south past Goat Pond. A couple of hundred meters past the Spray Lake Ranger Station look for an open gravel area on your left. At the east end of the parking area a path rises up and left through a clearing. In a short time you come to a rocky creek. Across the creek you can see the trail ahead and to the left entering forest. The first hour of hiking up this steep trail will certainly test your resolve. Token switch backs do little to ease the burden. Along the way you'll get your first taste of scrambling as the trail skirts occasional slab outcrops. Resistance is futile. When the trail approaches treeline keep your eyes peeled for a sizable cairn on your right (GPS reference 51d00m32s N, 115d21m51s W). This marker sits atop a 10m downclimb. Should you choose to descend here the trail continues up more steep rubble. We chose instead to continue up along the ridge, and to use this as the return route. In a few minutes at a rock step you have to execute a short 2m upclimb. At the next overhanging slab the climb is more difficult. You can follow a vague traverse on the left for about 100m which stays well under the step. There's a cairn marking the point where you can resume your upward progress (GPS reference 51d00m59s N, 115d21m32s W). On most mountains you have to hike up 800m just to do 30m of scrambling. Big sister is quite the exception - for the next 45 minutes you'll have a chance to practice your slab scrambling to boredom. Eventually you come to the top of a ridge (GPS reference 51d00m50s N, 115d21m13s W) opposite the first knobby pinnacle. In order to proceed your next move will be a 15m downclimb / downscramble to the bottom of a notch. Sidle along the left side of the first pinnacle. Stay close to the base and use handholds to reduce the effort of the steep and uneven terrain. Use the same strategy when you come to the second pinnacle. Beyond the pinnacles an uneventful 10 minute slog brings you to the summit (GPS reference 51d00m54s N, 115d21m04s W). At 2936m the view here is quite respectable. Looking to the northwest Mt. Grassi is in the foreground. The Rundle uplift is beyond; to its left in the distance is Mt. Temple, while Castle Mt. can be spotted to its right. To the north are all the familiar faces of the Fairholme Range - Mt. Charles Stewart, Mt. Lady McDonald, and Mt. Grotto. Below you to the northeast are the Middle and Little Sisters. Wind Ridge is directly east. Mt. Collembola and Mt. Allan are dwarfed by Mt. Lougheed to the southeast. Glacier-clad Mt. Joffre lies far to the south., while Mt. Assiniboine is the conspicuous landmark to the southwest.
|
|
