Explor8ion - a slice of infinity

Summit Elevation (m): 3045
Elevation Gain (m): 1250
Trip Date: April 25 2025
Round Trip Time (hr): 8.5
Total Trip Distance (km): 22
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 2 – you fall, you sprain your ego or drown (if the creek is deep enough)
Difficulty Notes: A snow ascent includes serious avalanche risk on giant, sun-exposed south slopes but other than that, this one’s pretty darn easy.
Technical Rating: OT4
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps

I first heard of “Nosecone Peak” after hiking into the White Goat Wilderness Area with Eric Coulthard in 2015 on a mission to tag Mount Willis and Mount Stewart. Back then, there was very little beta on this striking 3000m+ peak rising over Nigel Pass, but it looked very simple to ascend. Over the intervening years, first Matt Clay and then Andrew Nugara provided firsthand accounts of how foreshortened, but also how straightforward and scenic this unofficial summit is. After tagging a nearby Nugara summit in 2024 (Spine Peak) – almost exactly a year previous – I let Wietse know that Nosecone Peak was very high on my summit ski hit list.

Sheep graze along the Brazeau River with Nigel Peak and “Nosecone” Peak (R) in the bg as seen in a 2015 trip over Cataract Pass. You can clearly see the easy angled south slopes from here, and why I wanted to ski them.

My list of skiable summits in the Alberta Rockies – especially ones over 3000m, accessible from Calgary in a day trip, is getting shorter and shorter as each year passes. I’ve tagged pretty much everything on the Wapta and Columbia Icefields within my very limited skill set and a great many others besides. There are still a few peaks that I’ve scrambled but not yet skied, but it’s a short list nowadays.

A fixed up track showing the best route combined from our ascent and descent.

Considering Nosecone Peak is on the very northern tip of Banff National Park and the very southern tip of neighboring Jasper National Park, the first hurdle to a ski ascent was determining if it was even legal. Yes – the infamous and unpopular caribou closures that affect much of Jasper’s backcountry ski terrain threatened the legality of our ascent. Some careful and repeated map gazing had us convinced that as long as we stayed on the Banff side of the summit cairn, we were just barely avoiding jailtime and fines on this excursion. Phew. First obstacle overcome. 😉

The second obvious consideration next to avoiding prison on a ski ascent of Nosecone was avoiding the hospital or even worse, a permanent dirt nap. As any experienced Alberta Rockies skier will know, the first thing to consider when tackling a snowy ascent is what aspect you’re looking at skinning up and skiing down. In this case it was one of the most serious – a giant, unbroken south slope rising 900 vertical meters in under 2km from the valley floor below. Of course the same thing that made it somewhat dangerous, also made it very attractive – who doesn’t dream of skiing almost 1km of vertical, unbroken snow?! After a disappointing last minute cancellation due to rising avalanche concerns the week previous, we found ourselves looking at perfect conditions for Friday, April 25 and set our alarms for 03:00. Wietse picked me up at 03:30 and by 07:00 we were skinning from an empty Nigel Pass trailhead along a road I’d last hiked with Sara in 2022 (at the tail end of a 49km, 17-hour, 2-summit day).

Starting along a familiar road at the Nigel Pass trailhead with Nosecone visible at mid center right just catching morning sun.

Descending into the horse camp near the Nigel Creek crossing.

Crossing a feeder creek before Nigel Creek, just after the horse camp.

Our first concerns for the day ahead were quickly laid to rest along the first 2km of road. An extremely firm crust easily held up and made for easy travel. We followed old ski tracks to the horse camp / Nigel Pass turn-off and from there we were on our own the rest of the day. After descending to valley bottom and crossing a feeder creek just after the camp we decided that rather than crossing Nigel Creek and following the hiking trail, we would skin directly up the creekbed instead. This decision was almost a good one. But not quite.

Nosecone visible in the far distance as we start skinning up Nigel Creek. The hiking trail is off to our right and the horse trail to our left.

Outliers of Nigel Peak catch morning sun as we continue up Nigel Creek.

At first we enjoyed a wide creekbed, flowing water adding ambience to a beautiful spring day with giant, snowy peaks rising all around. First rays of sunshine were barely catching the 3000 meter summits high above and the snow remained concrete-hard below. Nigel Creek gurgled happily next to us and plenty of snow bridges made crisscrossing it a non-issue when required by the terrain. But then the creek did what all wild, untamed Rockies creeks tend to do. It narrowed. Considerably.

Nigel Creek narrows considerably, making our lives difficult.

A narrowing creek was not entirely unexpected for two hardy backcountry travelers but it did complicate things a little. We exited the tight confines and spent some time in the forest next to it, not a huge deal with such a supportive crust but thick in places. After stumbling around for a bit I noticed we seemed to be on a cut trail on the opposite side of the creek from the Nigel Pass hikers trail. Sure enough! As we exited the forest with expansive views to Nigel Pass and our objective ahead, we noticed a sign indicating we had been on the tail end of the horse trail up Nigel Creek. We decided to try following it on return.

Nigel Pass ahead at mid right with Nosecone at mid left and an outlier of Nigel Peak at left. This also happens to be where the horse trail ends and goes to join up with the hiking trail, across the valley to the right here.

We crossed open flats towards our objective, rising in full sun ahead. Despite a firm crust (still in the shade at this point) underfoot, we started scoping out lines and possibilities. One option had us ditching the skis and ascending obvious thin snowpack up the SE ridge rather than take risks in a snow loaded gully down the south face, while others saw us skiing right to the summit and descending said gully. It all depended on how the ‘pack held up and how we felt once we were on it. Both of us recognized that we haven’t spend a lot of time on snow this year and were feeling a bit rusty in our hazard assessments.

Views over Nigel Pass as we cross an intervening ridge towards Nosecone at left. This route avoids a hellish bushwhack along the feeder creek that exits between Nigel and Nosecone Peak.

An intervening ridge promised quick and easy access to the base of the peak, but once we topped out we quickly realized that we’d have to lose height to a hanging valley first. Not a lot of height, thankfully, and on hindsight this was an optimal line compared to approaching the valley from the creek below.

Nigel Peak comes into view at left with Nosecone rising to the right, our route lines marked.

We descended slightly into this hanging valley before continuing up SE slopes ahead.

After a short descent into the lovely hanging valley coming out from between Nigel and Nosecone Peak, we started a slow-but-steady 900 meter ascent up the south slopes of our objective. Nugara isn’t lying when he mentions a foreshortened view!

Ascending to treeline on a bomber crust.

Wietse is tiny in the huge terrain over Nigel Pass.

Believe it or not, it took almost 2 hours to ascend this slope. It is MUCH larger than it appears.

When first attaining an uninterrupted view of the south slopes, they looked very shallow and quite short. Of course, we knew better, but still our eyes deceived us. I led the way up the rock hard slab as we slowly broke treeline and the slope angle ramped up a notch or two.

Incredible scenery over Nigel and Cataract Pass and back down our approach valley as we navigate huge south slopes on Nosecone.

Views back down Nigel Creek and over unnamed summits on either side of the approach valley were stunning in brilliant spring sunshine. We came prepared for all conditions and were especially thankful for the ski crampons as the snow sticks started to lose their Pomoca-enabled off road capabilities. The only issue with ski crampons is that with Dynafit bindings they only bite when you aren’t at the maximum heel lift setting. This meant a slightly less comfortable foot angle than desired, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too I suppose. Dang it.

The slope steepens and we don ski crampons. Without them we would have had a much tougher time – potentially having to boot pack the entire SE slope.

Wietse takes the lead for a bit – as you can see, there wasn’t much trail breaking on the firm crust.

The last few gasps to the top! Note the Nigel Peak outlier now lower than us finally.

I made little check-in notes with myself to pass time on the immense slope. Every 15-minutes or so I’d stop and look around before putting my head back down and getting into a familiar step-slide-step-slide rhythm that only ski mountaineers can appreciate. I love ascending mountains on skis! Good thing too, because it took 2 hours from the hanging valley to the 3045m summit at a slow-but-steady pace. As expected and anticipated, views were stunning in every direction. This is the heart of big mountain country in the Alberta Rockies, including almost all of the Columbia Icefields peaks and a great many others besides.

Incredible wintry views NE down the Brazeau River valley include peaks such as the Twins (L), Alberta, Woolley, Diadem, Brazeau, Poboktan, Obstruction, Willis, Afternoon, Stewart, Cline and Cirrus (R).

Views to the White Goat Wilderness include Afternoon (L), Willis, Stewart and Cirrus (R).

Views to the Columbia Icefield include (L to R), Athabasca, Andromeda, Nigel, Kitchener, North Twin, Twins Tower and Stutfield NE.

Views back down the huge south face to Nigel Creek with giants of the Icefields Parkway in the distance.

I gave a half-hearted attempt at finding a register in the snow-covered cairn but gave up when it didn’t make a quick appearance (I’m not sure there is one). After transitioning to ski-mode, it was time to enjoy what we came for – an uninterrupted, 900 meter ski descent back down the south slopes! The first few turns off the summit were on a thin, breakable crust – not ideal but skiable.

Wietse starts down the giant south face of Nosecone.

The snow improves dramatically as we shift further into the sun.

After 100 or so vertical, I decided it was time to bail on the tough skiing and seek better snow pastures. I strongly suspected that the slope that gave us some pause on approach was likely ideal for descent as it was more exposed to the morning sun and was almost certainly a wee bit softer. Oh yeah! It most certainly was better! MUCH better in fact.

Huge terrain. Fun terrain. Potentially dangerous terrain.

Once we transitioned to the south face proper, the skiing became the best snow descent we’ve had in a few years. Effortless turns awaited us as we swooped, whooped and hollered our way down hundreds of vertical meters. Blue sky overhead, soaring peaks on every side and 2 inches of soft spring snow underfoot combined into an unforgettable experience.

Views back up the south face with our tracks barely visible on the hard crust above. The few inches of melting snow provided all the fun we needed! The gully we skied is obviously loaded up and could be dangerous in many conditions – but not today.

The fun wasn’t over when we hit treeline either. We continued down to the hanging valley below, undulating terrain between Christmas trees providing a fun little obstacle course without getting silly about it. It took 2 hours to ascend and less than 20 minutes (with breaks to catch our breath) to ski back down. Just the way it should be!

A look back at Nigel and Nosecone from the upper hanging valley.

With huge smiles on our faces (we almost considered another lap), we slowly continued out of the hanging valley, making the fateful decision to exit the creek rather than ascend back to our ridge approach. Despite “forest bathing” being a relaxing way to get your mojo back, the type of bath we ended up in when the creek choked on us was not the type to bring peace and harmony. It was full-on war.

The ill-advised exit via the feeder creek. We should have gained the 30m up the intervening ridge to the left here.

Well that wasn’t much fun! Exiting the creek after an involuntary “forest bath”.

Ah well. All’s well that ends well right? If you ski this peak, learn from our mistake and avoid this terrain trap. It’s scenic as heck, but also more than a little bit of a PITA.

All is good again as we exit on a still-firm crust in warm temperatures.

After a water break – it was great having cold, fresh running water on route – we proceeded down valley to find the horse trail back. After finding it, we followed it rather easily back to the horse camp and the approach road. (We did stupid at the end and tried to shortcut to the road but I removed that little bit of “fun” from the linked GPS track for ya.) There were some ups and downs along the way, but I highly recommend following this route rather than the summer trail if you ski this peak. The horse route avoids crossing huge avalanche slopes and it wide and easy to follow once you’re on it – just look for the cut branches and yellow sign markers strategically placed.

Back on the final 2km stretch of uninspiring road to the parking lot. Parker Ridge rising at right with Hwy 93 providing background music in between.

Our skins held up beautifully despite nuclear temperatures thanks to some good ol’ skin wax. Once we were done ascending to the approach road it was skins off and fast skiing back to the parking lot to the sounds of nearby traffic on Hwy 93. I feel like there’s a shortcut that could be done from the base of Parker Ridge rather than the 2km road, but maybe that isn’t true. I’m not going to find out any time soon. Nosecone Peak reminded us of similar shaped mountains including Ramp and Quartzite Peak. With an unbroken, 900 meter ski descent right off the summit, this relatively easy ski objective should be on every Alberta ski mountaineers list of spring objectives. I’m sure I’d be back sooner than later if it didn’t mean a wake-up time of 03:00 to do it safely!

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