The Tower

Trip No. 130

Elevation

3109m

Height Gain

1283m

Distance (one-way)

4.17km to Rummel Lake

7.40km to summit

Time to Reach Summit

3.5 - 5.5 hours

Degree of Difficulty

3 of 5

Scenery

3 of 5

Date of Most-recent Ascent

August 2, 2003

Download GPS Track

Drive south from Canmore on the Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail. From the Canmore Nordic Centre it is 34.9km to the south end of Spray Lake and the Mt. Shark / Mt. Engadine Lodge turn off. The trailhead is on the east side of the junction just a few steps from the road (GPS reference 50d50m21s N, 115d20m28s W).

The trail starts off south down an old logging road. In 5 minutes you arrive at the first small cutblock on the left (mostly overgrown). Keep going. In another 3-4 minutes at the edge of a much bigger and more recognizable cutblock look for a sloppy cairn made out of broken logs and sticks (GPS reference 50d50m06s N, 115d20m13s W). Turn left here and follow the trail uphill. You will intersect a trail shortly coming in from the right. Go left.

The path continues to rise in gentle angle trending towards the upper-left corner of the cutblock, then near the edge of forest it heads up break to the next cutblock and turns right (east). At a moderate pace it should take some 20 minutes to get from the car to this point. The trail ahead is along gentle open slopes, and in August this area is in full bloom. Make your way up to the top of this section and re-enter forest in 15 minutes.

Follow the well-defined trail through open forest. From time to time you may get glimpses of the west-facing slopes of your objective as well as Mt. Galatea to the south. In another 15 minutes you arrive at a 4-way junction (GPS reference 50d50m02s N, 115d19m11s W). Take the left branch, which heads downhill almost immediately. In just a hundred meters or so you should start seeing orange flagging and signs marking the northern perimeter of Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.

Descend steep slopes and cross Rummel Creek on boulders. Then climb back up the opposite bank and and resume your plod. You'll see how the provincial government has spared no expense with the orange flagging from this point on. Joking aside, the boundary cutline actually provides a convenient b-line to Rummel Lake.

In just 35-40 minutes from the junction you arrive at pristine Rummel Lake (GPS reference 50d50m02s N, 115d17m53s W). Follow the path clockwise around the lake back into thin forest to gain the upper valley. The meadows here are gorgeous and induces laziness, especially with your objective still appearing so far away. Give yourself a kick in the rear and keep moving.

When the meadows end go over a strip of rubble and then patchy vegetation towards a seasonal pond (GPS reference 50d50m38s N, 115d17m18s W). Avoid gaining elevation as it'll simply be a nuisance later on having to traverse scree slopes.

Scout out your ascent route from the pond: From where you are you can see that the right flank of the mountain is entirely open slabs. Gazing left you'll note that the slabs duck under more coarse terrain. The intersection forms a near-vertical groove extending up to a low-point on the ridge above. As you head up rubble slopes aim for the rib to the left and above this groove.

The initial rubble is not too bad, as the moderate angle and rock arrangement are quite steady. However as you gain elevation the grade gets much steeper, and the terrain is more broken and loose. Just before you top out on the ridge look for a convenient point to scramble across the rockband that has been growing on your left. There are a number of places that you can climb up staircase-like steps. This is intermediate scrambling, so if you end up on precarious ledges you're probably on the wrong line. The line I took has a narrow groove that you have to squeeze up near the end and then goes around a corner (cairn above). As soon as you're over the rockband the summit block is just ahead and no other obstacles remain.

The summit (GPS reference 50d51m23s N, 115d17m18s W) view looking south features the hulking mass of Mt. Galatea. It is amazing how its tilted strata and Rummel Lake below this mountain resembles Mt. Chester further south. To the left of Galatea you should see the tips of The Fortress and Gusty Peak. In the eastern distant skyline is the Fisher Range, while directly below you are Upper and Lower Galatea Lakes. Mt. Kidd South is northeast. Mt. Bogart and Sparrowhawk are to the north. Mt. Buller and Engadine are to the northeast. Mt. Sir Douglas, the Joffre Group, and the Royal Group fill the south-western vista, with more familiar peaks like Murray, Commonwealth, Smuts, The Fist, and Shark nearby.

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Rummel Lake

The Tower at left

The Tower

From seasonal pond; ascent route goes up just left of where slabs meet coarser rubble near centre of picture

The Tower

Heading up rubble slopes; true summit is just left of centre

The Tower

Steep scrambling up staircase-like terrain just before topping out at low-point on ridge; go up and left to get through rockband

Access Map

Elevation Profile