Baldy

Sat. 25 June:  Baldy

No, I’m referring to the mountain, not me!  Despite this now being officially summer, it was cold up there in the wind, and I had my wooly hat on to keep this bald patch warm.

For so many years, I had ignored this corner of the Kananaskis Valley, racing past to what I imagined were bigger and better hikes further down the valley.  Today I discovered that I had been missing out on a great experience.

The trail leading up from the Kananaskis highway to Baldy Pass is gently graded and well-marked for the steady flow of hikers who come this way.  The Pass itself is not the destination.  It is the peaks which one can easily access from this trail which attract the visitor.  The trail makes its way into a steep sided valley which narrows as it rises up to the Pass.  It’s an easy matter to reach the pile of stones which marks the so-called Pass, which is actually just a high point in the trees with no views.

From here the fun begins.  There are two choices from the Pass to go much higher.  If you continue up the mountainside to the south, you can reach the summit of Midnight Peak, with a little scrambling.  On the other hand, if you turn north at the Pass and head up those steep slopes, you will reach the south summit of Baldy Peak, which was my choice today.

This is called a “scramble”, mostly due to one very short section where you climb up over a small cliff.  Here the guidebook urges you NOT to bear right on a short trail which tries to find a way around the cliff but ends in a very exposed setting.  Once over the cliff, the rest of the trail is straightforward enough, if steep at times, as it climbs up onto the south end of the ridge.  

Once on the ridge you can see your objective ahead, the nicely shaped cone of the South Peak of Baldy.  The ridge dips down through the trees, then over a bumpy section of humps, leading to the final steep scree slope to the summit.  The top is a bare rocky summit with cairn. 

From the summit, the ridge continues northwards to the North Peak, which cannot be reached by hikers or scramblers.  The views all round were superb.  Parts of Barrier Lake are visible way below, and off to the east all the foothills from Eagle Hill to Cox Hill, Powderface Ridge, and Moose Mountain are ranged along the horizon.  Far to the north is Blackrock Lookout, and to the west and south all the mountains which surround the Kananaskis Valley.  

The wind was blowing quite hard up on the ridge, and I had to stop lower down to put on my wooly hat and gloves as it must have been close to freezing in the wind.  Clouds were piled up over the peaks to the west, but it was mostly sunny overhead.  There was no snow on the trail, just a couple of melting drifts off to the side of the ridge.

It was a simple, yet cautious return down the same trail.  Having just completed my basic wilderness first aid course last weekend, I was extra careful to make sure I didn’t slip on the steep scree slopes.  I was almost back down at the Pass before I met my first people of the day, two guys who had stopped for a snack on the trail.  By the time I had returned to the car, I had met seventeen other assorted hikers and two dogs.  This was not too bad for a popular trail on a sunny weekend day.  It could have been a lot busier.

This had been a surprisingly easy trip, mostly due to the nicely graded trail up to the Pass, which got me halfway to the summit with minimum effort.  Next time it will be Midnight Peak, which is higher and steeper yet.

Statistics
Baldy South Summit
Sat. 25 June
Total Dist.	12.4 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,530 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,080 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 4 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       6.48 am Baldy Pass:     8.00 am S. Summit:      9.42 am Baldy Pass:   10.56 am Ret. to car:    11.52 am	Temp:  +7 to +13 deg.C Mostly sunny, windy, felt much colder in the wind.  Clouds over mountains to the west.