Highwood Ridge

Sat. 23 July:  Highwood Ridge

Wooly hats and warm gloves in late July – that’s a small price to pay for climbing to within a stone’s throw of 9,000 feet above sea level.   At 8,850 feet, I beat the maximum elevations achieved in the banner hiking years of 2009 and 2010.  And it was so easy.

You might say that we cheated a bit, as this hike starts at the top of Canada’s highest paved road, the Highwood Pass, at just over 7,200 ft.  Our plan was to climb from the Pass up onto the northern peak of Highwood Ridge, walk in a southerly direction along the ridge, then dropping down to the road further south.  This needed two cars, so today my hiking colleague J and I teamed up in Calgary and set off westwards in convoy.  There was a lot of cloud piled high above the mountains, suggesting that the forecast for a sunny day might be a little optimistic.  We did have sunshine up on the ridge – along with a cold wind, threatening clouds, and an occasional snow flurry.  Above 8,000 feet, the weather seems often to have a life of its own.

We reached the top of the Pass, then drove a few kilometers down the other side of the Pass to drop off my car.  Returning to the top, we parked J’s car in an almost empty parking area.  This would fill up later, as it’s a popular destination, with some very nice interpretive trails.  

The route through the trees up onto the north end of the ridge is just a little confusing, but as long as you keep heading upwards, you can’t go wrong.  You have to scramble up over some crags, before reaching the tree-line, where the forest gives way to some nice grassy slopes.  From there we followed the steep ridgeline up to the summit, enjoying the easy scrambling and the immediately spectacular views down the Pass.  There was very little snow left, and none on our route.  Those drifts which remained were, with one exception, on the eastern slopes and might easily not melt before next winter adds more snow.  There was just one large drift just below the final summit scramble, easily bypassed.  

The northern summit of the ridge, at 8,850 ft., was small, with steep cliffs on the north.  A thin jagged ridgeline runs west towards Grizzly Peak and Mt. Tyrwhitt (9,429 ft.) beyond.  Back in 1985 I had followed that arduous route.  Looking southwards we could see our own wide, grassy ridgeline running for about three kilometres to the southern summit.  To the right (west) was a classic smooth grassy glaciated valley, bright green in the sun.  To our left, far below, we could look down onto the road leading down from the Pass.  Directly to the east were some incredible hidden valleys and snow-capped mountains – Mt. Rae (10,558 ft.), Storm Mountain (10,155 ft.) and Mist Mountain (10,302 ft.).  Quite a viewpoint.

The clouds were building to the north, and it was cold enough for hats and gloves, so we strode briskly south along the ridge, trying to stay as close to the precipitous eastern cliff-line as we could – mostly, of course, to show off to the drivers on the road far below.  This was an exciting walk, with no dangers, yet a continuously spectacular 360 degree bird’s eye view of the eastern Rockies.  The ridge narrows down at one point, and it is mostly downhill from north to south.  Finally up on the southern summit, we looked back along our route which now resembled a steep mountainside!  

It was on this southern summit that the well-known explorer George Pocaterra had a famous picture taken, which I haven’t yet been able to find.  Instead I asked J to take an imposing photo of me looking down the Pass, hoping this may become just as famous a family picture for future generations!

We dropped off the ridge down the steep south end, which was easy enough, but constantly steep as it headed into the forest and continued down until we hit a pathway.  Turning left, we contoured round to the southeast side of the mountain, to a deep, dry creek, which led easily enough back to the road, and exactly to the place we had parked my car.  I had thought that somewhere between the ridge and the road, we would have to cross a young Highwood River (or Storm Creek).  Luckily the creek ran on the other side of the road, so we simply walked through the woods and out onto the road, perhaps five or six kilometers below the Pass.  This final descent off the ridge would not make a good ascent at all, so if you are thinking of doing our route in reverse, forget it!  

We had been lucky with the weather, and the earlier threats of snow showers had given way to a mostly sunny summer afternoon.  There had been no other hikers on our trail today, although the car park at the top of the Pass was now full.  It was a leisurely drive down the Highwood Valley and back to Calgary through bright green ranching country under dark blue summer skies.

Statistics
Highwood Ridge
Sat. 23 July
Total Dist.	8 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,100 ft.
Max. Elev.	8,850 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 30 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       7.56 am N summit:       9.57 am S summit:     11.42 am Car:                1.26 pm Ret. to start:   1.37 pm	Temp:+8 to +16 deg.C (colder up on ridge) Mix of sun and cloud, cold west wind, some snow flurries.