I was getting a bit antsy after spending too much time in the concrete jungle for the past few weeks and decided, against my better judgment, to join Phil on a dubious snowshoe ascent of the mighty Kent Ridge, South Peak on Sunday, January 21, 2018.
There are a few trip reports available online for Lougheed I, but for obvious reasons there are many more for the much easier and official summit of Lougheed II (usually with a no-brainer traverse to III). The trip reports I could find are all part of a traverse from peak I to II, either as a scramble or an alpine climb.
Monday, April 17 I slept in until 08:30 with no intentions whatsoever to bag a peak. Ten minutes later I was backing out of the driveway, headed for Canmore with the plan to snowshoe Ship's Prow Mountain.
Even on one of the nicest days of the summer we only saw around 10 other people the whole day on this trail. Highly recommended, especially if you love alpine meadows, tarns and Marmots.
Phil Richards and I decided that Commonwealth Ridge would make a nice first summit of 2016 - and we were right. We started in beautiful pre-dawn light from the Smuts Pass parking area along the Spray Lakes Road in cold temperatures of around -23 degrees.
Originally I was planning to attempt skiing Little Galatea, an outlier of the much larger Mount Galatea. After Matt Clay posted that he and Matt Hobbs had recently spent a considerable amount of energy breaking trail through sugar-snow to the upper ridge, I couldn't resist taking advantage of this on my 'shoes, and I got to spend another day in the hills with my family out of the deal.
After taking some time away from summits after my busiest year yet in the Rockies, I felt it was time to stand on a (named) high point again. I was supposed to work Wednesday, December 23 but decided at the last minute that I didn't feel like it.
You know it's not a very interesting trip when it takes me a few weeks to write it and the main photo is from the drive to the trailhead... :) Honestly, there isn't much to recommend the snowshoe trip up the North Ridge of Mount Buller, other than a decent view from the top and some good sweating (and swearing?!) on the way up.
[Update July 12 2013]
Many areas are now opening in Kananaskis thanks to an incredible effort by many. Many trails still remain closed, however. Please visit the Kananaskis Trails report page for updates.
We tried Mount Lawrence Grassi on November 11 but we were turned around by high wind and very cold temperatures at the top. This time Sean, Taylor and I managed to get to the summit. There are no major difficulties on this moderate scramble - there is a good trail up the spine and to the summit.
On a beautiful, sunny, late August day we set off with five guys to scramble The Tower in K-Country near Rummel Lake. I've done the snowshoe to Rummel Lake a few times in the winter but I've never gone in the summer before. The walk to the lake is a pleasant stroll through some old logging roads and a nice trail over a forested ridge.
I've wanted to do a traverse around the Tent Ridge Loop for years already. When the family was heading out to the mountains to do a hike I decided this would be a perfect chance to do it.
On a early (0430) August 6 2005 morning, I joined Dave Stephens and Blair Piggot on a full day trip to scramble Mount Smuts and The Fist in Kananaskis Country. Blair and Dave do a lot of mountaineering and climbing trips together and every once in a while Dave manages to sucker Blair into a scramble.
My name is Vern Dewit. I moved to Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in 1999 and since then I've fallen in love with the spectacular scenery and grand vistas that open up as you scramble up above treeline on a beautiful fall morning, or make your first cast on some back country stream as the sun throws its golden warmth on surrounding peaks.
