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Trip No. 133
Elevation 2110m at West Wind Pass 2673m at Wind Tower
Height Gain 403m to West Wind Pass 966m to Wind Tower
Distance (one-way) 2.41km to West Wind Pass 4.64km to Wind Tower
Time to Reach Summit 1.0 - 1.5 hours to West Wind Pass 2.0 - 3.5 hours to Wind Tower
Degree of Difficulty 0.5 of 5 to West Wind Pass 2 of 5 to Wind Tower
Scenery 3.5 of 5
Date of Most-recent Ascent August 16, 2003
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Head south on
the Smith Dorrien Spray Trail; 1.4km past the access for Driftwood pull off and park on
the lake side of the road (GPS reference 50d58m34s N, 115d19m18s W).
If you go past the Spurling Creek road sign you've gone too far. The trailhead is
across the road on the left bank of a dry creek. Looking up, the objective
can be seen in the distance rising from right to left. A few minutes into the hike the trail splits. Take the left branch. In another 30 minutes or so at a cairn (GPS reference 50d 58m48s N, 115d18m55s W) keep right. The trail continues up above the creek into thinning forest, and after a total of an hour you exit tree line. As you proceed into the clearing, Rimwall rises on your left above small cliffs and rock bands. West Wind Pass is straight ahead (GPS reference 50d59m23s N, 115d18m10sW). The majority of hiking parties will stop here and just while the day away. Your summit objective is still 2 hours away: Wind Tower looms 600m above you on the right of the Pass. Several faint trails make their way up a rubble slope. These all eventually converge on an intermittent trail which traverses south across numerous - but not difficult - rock bands. An abundance of small cairns mark the path through these small obstacles. As you continue south the cliff band guarding the summit ridge eventually tapers down to a point where you can simply hop over it. Make a left and head up towards the Wind Tower/Lougheed saddle. On a hot day make sure you bring lots of water for this section, as the sun beats relentlessly on this long open slope. As you come over the rise the north peak of Mt. Lougheed re-appears. Behind you the length of Spray Lake is in full view. You may want to make note of the cairn(s) marking the descent route at this point. From the saddle several well-worn tracks snake their way up surprisingly gentle slopes to the summit, some 30 minutes away. Although there is no exposure at the top (GPS reference 50d59m20s N, 115d17m26sW), those fearing open heights will want to avoid the edge, as the surrounding cliffs are dizzying. The panorama is superb. Rimwall on the north is hardly the towering menace that it seemed to be from West Wind Pass. To the east the familiar mountains in the Front Range come to view: Grotto, Exshaw, Yamnuska, McGillivray, and Pigeon. On the north side of Mt. Allan, note how the prominent semi-circular syncline ends in pinnacles straddling the ridge. Goat Range flank the west side of Spray Lake; the two nearby summits are Mt. Nestor and Old Goat Mt.
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West Wind Pass Wind Tower lower slopes at right
Wind Tower View from near tree line on West Wind Pass trail
Wind Tower Ascent slopes to Wind Tower - Lougheed saddle
Wind Tower View of summit mass from Wind Tower - Lougheed saddle; route goes up left hand skyline ridge
Access Map
Elevation Profile
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