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Tag : TL3

Prairie Mountain for Dummies (NEW EDITION!)

After hundreds of laps on Prairie Mountain, I wanted to write a short article on the do’s and don’ts and tips and tricks for folks who might be headed to this small peak for the first time. This is called a “dummies guide” rather than a “beginners guide” for a reason. As an endless user of the mountain and various of its trails, I have some advice for those who might not realize they are behaving in ways that degrade the experience of myself and the hundreds of other hikers who come after them. The advice all comes down to one thing. Please. Don’t be a dummy.

Tessa Peak & Landslide Ridge

I highly recommend this easy hike to anyone with half a day on their hands and some energy in their pockets. Don’t underestimate the height gain or the angle – this is a bloody steep hike! The views at the top (and even very part way up) are more than worth the heartbeats you will expend on route.

Ram Mountain (Lookout)

I loved the Ram Mountain hike and will likely repeat it again some day with family or friends if I’m in the area. The views are far reaching and the hiking is easy and consistent grade all the way up to the upper mountain.

Prairie Mountain (2020)

I meet the same folks time and again and have run into more friends here than anywhere else in the Rockies. And why not? It’s about 45 minutes west of my house, boasts 650m of height gain and only takes around 1.5 hours in decent conditions.

Allstones Ridge (Lake)

I liked this short hike. It’s a great family option too. Be aware of some hard-pack dirt to the summit that folks in runner might not enjoy if they’re not used to slippery trails that are this well used. Just don’t expect solitude unless you’re up and at it early in the day.

Willoughby Peak (Ironstone Lookout)

I was feeling let down by the dismal September weather and with one last day off before going back to work for the winter, I decided to risk the crappy forecast and drive down to the Crowsnest Pass to try my luck with a few last summits on Monday, October 1 2018. My original plan was to scramble Deadman’s Peak and then if I had energy remaining, do the bike ‘n hike of Willoughby Peak. As I drove closer to the pass, I noticed copious amounts of fresh snow since my visit only 5 days earlier when I scrambled Mount Coulthard and McLaren.

Hiking Trails into Mount Assiniboine

There are various approaches to Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park and I’ve now done a number of them, excepting the easiest (from the air) and some of the more obscure ones. This is a brief description of each of the four routes I’ve done, and two that I haven’t, with a final comparison matrix at the end. These are also detailed at the Mount Assiniboine Lodge website. One short section of the climber’s access route that I haven’t done (yet) is the Gmoser Ledges from the Lake Magog Campground to the Hind Hut. You can find more details of that route here. My GPS route for that section is a guess at best.

Sunshine Meadows – Mount Assiniboine

Ever since I first backpacked into the Mount Assiniboine area in early September 2008 from Mount Shark, I’ve wanted to go back in larch season – sometime in the last two weeks of September. I did go back to the area on September 22, 2012 but avoided most of the larches by going in via Settler’s Road and Assiniboine Lake before climbing Mount Assiniboine and Lunette Peak from the Hind Hut and returning via the same route. In 2015 I thought I’d be going back and for some reason or another it didn’t pan out. In 2016 I was absolutely determined to make the hike and scramble trip work out.

Albert, Mount

After easily hiking to the top of Mount Baldy near Beauvais Lake in the Castle Wilderness, we turned our attention towards Mount Albert – it’s slightly higher neighbor to the southeast. We had lots of great views in between short stints through “dwarf forest” as we followed orange trail markers that were sometimes harder to spot than you’d think based on the fact that they’re orange.

Picklejar Lakes

On Sunday, August 3 2014, I took my family on a day hike that I’d wanted to do for a long time already – Picklejar Lakes.

Mumm Basin – The Cave – Toboggan Falls

In order to ascend Mumm Peak, I was going to first ascend the Mumm Basin trail from the Robson Pass campground. This would get me above tree line on a good trail and by ascending it from the Robson Pass CG I would end up right under the easy “dragon back” leading to the snow slopes accessing the summit ridge. On the way back down I would continue on the Mumm Basin trail back to The Cave and Toboggan Falls before going back down to the Berg Lake campground.

Elk Lakes Backpack Trip to Petain Falls

On the weekend of August 17-19 I took my two kids and one of Niko’s friends into the ACC hut in Elk Lakes Provincial Park.

Windtower (West Wind Pass)

After almost 2 months without a summit and a long family vacation which saw me drive over 5000 kilometers in 2.5 weeks, I was more than ready to get out to the solitude of the Rocky Mountains again! Since I had just driven 10 hours the day before, coming back from visiting family in the Vancouver area, I decided that I would do something fairly low key on Thursday, July 19. I have wanted to hike Windtower for a long time already and this seemed like the perfect day to do just that, so I did.

Cox Hill

I found myself with a few hours to kill so I did the quick drive out to the Dawson Equestrian Area, just off the Sibbald Creek Trail (hwy #68) on the Powderface Trail Road. The trail leaves near the entrance to the parking lot – a bit confusing but once you find it you should cross a bridge across the creek almost immediately. Take the first obvious trail off to your right (signed) and follow to the summit. I was expecting more people on such a fine late summer day and was a bit nervous hiking solo through the berry patches. When I started finding bear scat on the trail my energy increased a bit.

Panther Falls (Jasper National Park)

After hiking and scrambling up Boundary Peak near the Columbia Icefields, the kids and I took advantage of a beautiful late summer day and checked out the impressive Panther Falls, located near the Bridal Veil Falls parking area off Hwy #93 just uphill from the Big Bend.

McConnell Ridge (Yate’s Mountain)

Hanneke was in Edmonton for the weekend, so we decided to go for a pleasant Sunday afternoon hike with the kids, dog and I. The only place free enough of snow on this gorgeous weekend was McConnell Ridge, so we gave that a try and it worked out beautifully.

Prairie Mountain

Not much to say here! This is a good hike to take the family on – including the family dog! It’s only 700 meters of height gain and you can probably go up any time of the year.