Mt. Lawson

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Mt. Lawson

Trip No. 129

Elevation

2845m

Height Gain

1255m

Distance (one-way)

4.03km

Time to Reach Summit

3.0 - 5.0 hours

Degree of Difficulty

3 of 5

Scenery

3 of 5

Date of Most-recent Ascent

July 26, 2003

Download GPS Track

If you've never had the experience of going up treadmill scree you'll learn to hate this mountain by the end of the day. Also, make sure you follow the directions for the lower section. There is now a trail which avoids all the thrashing through thick forest. If you go off course you should backtrack and find the right way. I went too far south on the initial approach and ended up adding an extra hour of tedious bushwhacking to my day. I only hooked up with the right track on descent.

From Highway 1 drive south on Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40) for 42.7km to Fortress Junction. Turn right. At the first long right hand curve after the bridge park on the side of the road at the apex of the turn (GPS reference 50d47m05s N, 115d10m06s W).

At the edge of forest scout around for a recognizable trail heading into the woods. Try not to loose the trail because if you do you're in for a long day of thrashing. In a mere 10-15 minutes you should come to a flowing creek. Turn right here and follow the creek upstream to a fallen log bridging the creek. Look for several pieces of orange flagging on tree branches here.

Either practice your balancing skills with the log or just boulder-hop over the creek - it's only 3-4m wide at this point. Climb back up the bank and pick up the trail as it continues on a southerly direction up a slight incline. In 7-10 minutes you should come to a semi-clearing (more flagging). You are at the bottom of a drainage; barely recognizable except for the fact that there is a break in the forest along this path. If it's a sunny day this is the first time you'll see sunlight. Turn right and start uphill.

The trail is weak at best from here on, but where it does exist to bypass the thick growth or deadfall in the drainage it is always on the right bank. The creek is likely dry for the entire distance but as you move further up there may be water flowing at three imposing headwalls/waterfalls. If dry you can climb through the first (and smallest) waterfall straight up the middle. The second and third falls will require a detour to rocky ledges on the right. You'll need to make note of where you come up as there aren't that many options and you'll have to down climb these sections on return.

Beyond the last waterfall the drainage opens up. At last you have an uninterrupted view of the connecting ridge between Mt. Lawson and Mt. Inflexible. Make your way up easy-angled grassy slopes as the natural angle trends left.

Once you're beyond the last vegetation the real grunt begins. There are numerous gullies that fan out from this point up the mountain. Any one of them will get you to the summit ridge but every one is steep and choked with loose rubble. A few fingers of solid rock protrude through the rubble to allow scrambling up but these are typically short-lived. It took me well over an hour to grovel up this dreadful section.

The stubborn rubble and angle continues all the way up to the summit ridge. Once you do get there turn left, and then it's an easy 15 minute stroll on the broad ridge to the summit (GPS reference 50d45m57s N, 115d11m22s W).

The summit provides a ring side seat to the Opal Range to the east - from The Wedge at the north end to Elpoca Mt. at the south end. The connecting mountain to the northwest is Mt. Inflexible. This along with unnamed peak GR254256 forms the huge cirque at the head end of a lush green valley which extends south to Lower Kananaskis Lake. Mt. Assiniboine towers in the distant west-northwest. West-southwest is Mt. Robertson. The Royal Group is southwest. Glaciated Mt. Joffre juts out skyward in the south.

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