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Mount McGillivray

Trip No. 159

Elevation

2476m

Height Gain

1158m

1370m with height loss

Distance (one-way)

7.00km

Time to Reach Summit

4.0 - 7.0 hours

Degree of Difficulty

4 of 5

Scenery

3 of 5

Date of Most-recent Ascent

July 24, 2004

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Mt. McGillivray is a seldomly visited peak sandwiched between popular Heart Mt. and Pigeon Mt. In contrast to the mostly hiking up the two latter mountains, McGillivray is long and difficult. On a hot day make sure you bring extra water as the sun-drenched western slopes will bake you dry. There are only traces of trails on this mountain. Make sure you mark or remember your way as you can easily end up on top of cliffs that will force you to backtrack. The footing on the return trip is frustratingly loose as you have to regain lost elevation along the bowls.

Off Hwy 1 park in the large lot 3.4km east of the Dead Man's Flats overpass. If you are coming from Calgary you'll have to turn around at Dead Man's Flats as the trail starts on the south side of the highway.

From where you parked head straight in on an old road. Within a couple of hundred meters you arrive at a junction. There's an interpretive sign off on your right but you'll want to turn left here. This is the Trans Canada Trail.

Wander along the wide path as it trends east, eventually becoming single-track as it ascends hillside. After some 20-25 minutes the trail reaches a clearing and starts downhill. Leave the trail here and head right into open forest. There's no more trail to to follow from here on.

Stay on the crown of the short ridge for 15 minutes or so and arrive at a small clearing. Here you should be able to see the tree-covered northwest ridge of the mountain extending off to your right. Aim for the top of this ridge as you proceed. For a stretch you'll need to ascend hellishly steep terrain. The mossy undergrowth is thick and it will remind you of running on a sandy beach. The forest is reasonably open so the bushwhacking is only moderate. It'll take some 30 minutes to gain the top of the northwest ridge. Head southeast through thinning forest and eventually reach a long barren section devoid of trees.

The route continues back into tree cover and eventually you come to a deep gully. Veer left from here. You should intersect a game trail a little further on. Stay on this vague path and bypass the gully. Once you exit this section you'll see a long grassy stretch extending up until the last vegetation. The path is obvious from here on up to the crest below the north summit buttress.

On arriving at the crest below the north summit you don't need to stray too high. Looking across the west-facing bowl you can see that there's no way of getting up on top of the cliff band. Instead, you have to traverse the steep and loose rubble and descend towards a break to get over. You'll give up about 30 meters of elevation as you cross the slopes.

After you overcome the rib you see more of what you've just been through! You now need to clamber up higher to traverse the second bowl between two cliff bands. The ground is more stable if you hug the base of the higher band. At the far end descend some 70 meters before rounding the corner. In less than 100 meters the wall to your left should be low enough for you to scramble up. The first pitch is about 20 meters high. Then traverse left on ledges for 40 meters to a chimney. Ascend the crack to the top marked by a cairn (you can't see the cairn from below).

Proceed uphill some more before making the last traverse. Again the footing is steep and loose. As you round the last corner the true summit is finally in view. A line of cairns steer you up towards open slopes and the ridge above.

At the saddle you have a great view of the Heart Mt. Loop to the east, along with Barrier Lake Lookout. Turning your gaze towards the summit ridge you'll note a minor highpoint direct ahead. It's not necessary to climb the minor summit. Instead just cut across the middle of this bump and then angle back up to the ridge.

The large cairn atop the summit becomes more evident at you approach. At one point the ridge narrows to a knife-edge as you'll likely have to straddle it for a couple of moves. The fun continues as you near the summit at two spots further on. First you have to maneuver across a narrow section before downclimbing to a notch. The narrowing is barely long enough for you to turn around in the middle and downclimb. After this point there's another short exposed section to cross, and then it's up to the summit.

So why have you come all this way? You can contemplate this as you admire the view of Mt. Lorette to the southeast. Look down to the east to see the Heart Mt. loop and Mary Barclay's Mt. Notable peaks to the north include Yamnuska, Goat Mt., Mt. Fable, and Grotto Mt. To the west is ridge-like Pigeon Mt. Mt. Lougheed is off to the southwest, while bits of Mt. Bogart, Mt. Kidd and The Fortress are visible to the south.

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