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Trip No. 115 Elevation Height
Gain Time to Reach Summit Degree of Difficulty Scenery Date of Most-recent
Ascent |
Close to the road and great views from the top. What more could you ask for? Well, this one is not for the novice scrambler. The upper sections are steep and unstable, and one stretch of exposed scrambling will require extra caution, if not extra nerves. Look for bighorn sheep as you emerge from treeline. Head south on Highway 40 towards Highwood Pass. Drive to the Valley View day-use area 10.5km south of the Kananaskis Lakes junction. Do not confuse this with the Valley View turn off which is just over 5km south of Kananaskis Lakes junction - this is the north end of Valley View Trail. You want to go to the south end. From the parking area (GPS reference 50d39m02s N, 115d02m13s W) walk back west to Valley View Trail. Some 10-15m past the traffic sign indicating twisting road for the next 6km there's a semi-clearing on your right. Look for a faint trail which heads off into tall grass and shrubs. If you follow the trail there is little trouble getting through this short stretch of forest. Some 15-20 minutes into the hike the trail crosses an overgrown shallow gully. Head up a little further on the embankment to regain the trail. As you get higher the gully is better defined and the trail will alternate back and forth on the two opposite banks several times. Higher up the gully splits into several vague branches. Always take the left option. Once you reach more open terrain the steep slopes are covered with dark, sandy scree. This stuff is awful for going up but fun coming down. When the gully ends up in thickets angle up towards the broad ridge to the right. This section is quite tiring due to the grade and loose footing. Eventually you reach a grassy saddle (GPS reference 50d39m16s N, 115d02m46s W) on the east side of the mountain. Turning left from here, stroll up the grass-covered ridge as it extends west and abruptly ends on rocky steps. Follow the trail up loose rubble towards the minor highpoint looming straight ahead. When you reach the slabby cliffs turn left. As you go around the base of this feature you find yourself standing at the edge of a steep gully dropping off to the left. The gully is some15-20m wide here, and the most difficult and exposed part is right in front of you. You have to scramble across the initial 2-3 meters on small holds on down-sloping slabs. Be very careful here - one slip and they'd be writing about you in next day's newspaper. After the crux look for a couple of cairns that direct you further up more rotten loose rock. Cross the last two small patches of vegetation and scramble up 5m of high-angled slabs to a narrow ledge. Turn right and pick the best line to angle towards the skyline ridge. You may find a couple of cairns on a small saddle ahead. If you reach this point head straight for the ridge above. The ridge is narrow but not exposed. However the rock is unstable in places so watch your step. There are a couple of false summits along the way, but you are close. The true summit is marked with a jumbo-sized cairn. The ridge dips just before you reach the high point - there is a short, semi-exposed section here. The summit (GPS reference 50d39m23s N, 115d03m14s W) view ranks amongst the finest in the area. To the west the Kananaskis Lakes are crowned by the Royal Group and Mt. Sir Douglas. Southwest is the Joffre Group. Directly south is Pocaterra Ridge, at its southern end is Mt. Tyrwhitt. Sharp eyes can pick out the window along its left-hand skyline ridge. Neighbouring Mt. Rae juts out over Elpoca Mt. to the southeast. The entire eastern vista is filled by the vertical tilted peaks of the Opal Range.
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