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Mount Wilcox |
| Elevation 2830m Height Gain Time to Reach Summit Degree of Difficulty Scenery Date of Most-recent Ascent |
If you're going to drive 3.5 hours from Calgary to do a 2.5 hour scramble (ascent time) you'd better make sure it's worth your while. Mount Wilcox certainly ranks in this category: Spectacular panoramas of 3000+ meter peaks, glaciers, and glacial valleys will take your breath away. West of Lake Louise take Highway 93 North towards Jasper. The drive to Columbia Icefields itself is accented by numerous scenic viewpoints. After about an hour past Lake Louise (depending on how many motor-homes you get stuck behind) you arrive at Icefield Centre amidst tour buses and Sno-Coaches. Park in the parking lot on the east side of the highway (GPS reference 52d13m23s N, 117d12m31s W). Mount Wilcox is the directly above you, although what you see is just the lower cliff bands. You should be able to pick out the summit tips off to the left. Above a bluff behind the Icefield Centre building look for a trail entering bushes. The narrow path is overgrown in many places. Don't worry if you loose the trail; the idea is to thrash your way past the short belt of trees hugging the lower slopes. Once in the clear, keep right of the first cliff band and scramble up to the ridge above. On reaching the meadows the summit ridge comes into view on your left. Make note of where you come up for the return trip. Waltz across the grassy slopes to the base of the summit mass in some 20-30 minutes. An easy angled path near the ridge crest takes you to the first minor summit. From this point on the going gets a bit tougher: Intervening ribs will require you to scramble across boulders, slabs, and jagged fins. Note the line of cairns which should help you pick the easier route. At the last minor high-point before the summit, a brief narrowing of the ridge results in some mild exposure. The summit (GPS reference 52d14m41s N, 117d14m28s W) is minutes away. The view at the top does not disappoint. The most obvious is the bird's-eye view of the Athabasca Glacier surrounded by Mts Andromeda, Athabasca, and Bryce. Snow Dome is the crowning point of the Columbia Icefield; its glaciers being the sources of rivers flowing into the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. From where you are Snow Dome is characterized by the uniformly thick layer of ice on its summit and the receeding Dome Glacier below. To the west is Mt. Kitchener. Directly north is Tangle Ridge. To the east, the perfectly U-shaped glacial valley is Wilcox Pass, backdropped by Nigel Peak.
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