Tag : great divide trail

Honeycomb Peak (+ Cyclamen Ridge)

I enjoyed Honeycomb Peak more than I thought I would to be honest. The approach trails are all in very good condition and the sheep highways are icing on the cake! Views are always great along the Great Divide and this was no exception. Let’s just hope that the dirt bike crowd stays away, they are not welcome here. I can’t say I regret hiking Cyclamen Ridge either, but I can say that this is not a worthwhile summit to chase for its own sake. My advice is to enjoy the lower south ridge until the trees close in on the views and the trail becomes hard to follow. Stop there and enjoy your day.

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Kilmarnock & O’Rourke, Mount

Some days in the hills turn out far better than expected given the forecast conditions. Other days turn out exactly how you thought they would given the forecast conditions. This day was one of the latter. We knew before getting out of bed that morning that we’d have clouds and thick smoke all day and yet we both still decided to go for it. Was it 100% worth it? Nah. Not if I’m totally honest. On the other hand, I can’t say I hated this outing – it had moments of beauty and fun like any other. In the end I won’t overthink it but I also will try to take the lesson learned that sometimes it’s better to simply stay in bed a little longer and do something else when the forecast promises doom & gloom.

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High Rock Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Jutland to Sage Mountain Traverse (Matkin, Font)

As we drove slowly back to the hwy Sara and I agreed that this was one of our more relaxing multi-day outings of 2022, actually it was by far the most relaxing one. With the first day only coming in at 9 hours 1650 meters of ascent and the second at less than 8 hours and only just over 1000 meters ascent we didn’t feel too stressed. I’m sure that for me the ultralightweight backpacking system had a lot to do with it – I decided to test it on a 2 night trip immediately after this one. A highly recommended late summer or fall trip for fit parties wanting to experience some of the Castle Wildernesses more remote peaks and valleys.

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Backpack / Bike / Camp / Clark Range / Hike / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Scarpe Mountain (Sunkist Ridge, La Coulotte)

Wietse and I were shocked that our total time for this trip was only 11.5 hours with an average pace of 4.2 km/h for the day! Despite being painful we agreed that this is a pretty good outing for hikers and scramblers who don’t mind a long bike approach and a bit of work. Instead of carrying a much heavier overnight pack you can squeeze 2 days into 1, bag three summits and get some pretty sweet views for all your efforts. There is very little (i.e. none) water along the route once you leave the West Castle River lower down, so you should budget your water carefully and think about how much you might need. I highly recommend this trip for larch season – looking back on my photos from Jake Smith Peak I realize how many there are along the ridge between La Coulotte and Scarpe Mountain.

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Bike / Clark Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Tornado Mountain

I didn’t feel rushed all day and other than some crappy riding and forgetting my poles, this was a solo trip that’ll stay in my positive memory banks for a long time I think. Tornado Mountain is a combination of hard work (the approach), route-finding, hiking and gorgeous alpine and forest landscapes.

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High Rock Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Minster Mountain (Mount Harlan)

Was it really possible that the mountain was so often ascended yet we could find no trip reports other than Jason Thompson’s FA account in a 1995 ACC Journal article? Silly I know, but it was jarring to see so many other people in the area.

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Cline Range / Hike / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Gass, Mount

After a great bivy at the lovely Lyall Tarn, Wietse and I awoke at around 06:00 to an extremely windy, cloudy and dark sky beneath the brooding rock walls of Mount Lyall. We both commented on the quality of our sleep – the night was very calm and quite warm for September and we both got over 9 hours of shut-eye. Just as forecast on SpotWX, the wind picked up fiercely in the early morning hours, and by 06:15 we were feeling rain drops outside the tent. Darn it. I seem to be getting a lot of rain on my trips in 2018!! I can only remember packing up a few dry camps this year and I’ve spent a lot of nights under the sky, as usual.

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High Rock Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Lyall, Mount (Feuz)

After our ascent of Beehive Mountain, Wietse, Phil and I started a delightful traverse across brightly colored alpine meadows leading under towering cliffs to the west towards the NE shoulder of Mount Lyall. Beehive Mountain had gone much quicker and easier than we expected and despite thick smoke interfering somewhat with our views, we were feeling pretty pumped about our day so far. The temperatures were more mid-summer than late, and the fall colors on the vegetation in the meadows was absolutely stunning.

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Camp / High Rock Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0

Beehive Mountain

Once our original plans fell through for the weekend of September 7-9 (thanks to forest fire smoke), Phil Richards, Wietse Bijlsma and I had to think fast on Thursday night to come up with an alternate trip that still satisfied on some level. Smoke from BC forest fires had already been a huge issue since late July this year and we were tiring of trying to avoid it or climbing in it. After several suggestions we settled on a few easy, but lengthy and harder to access, scrambles on the Great Divide in the High Rock Range of South Kananaskis.

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High Rock Range / Scramble / Trip Report 0