Ridge Routes

Sun. 27 May:  Powderface Ridge - and more!

This is a trip that, I suspect, not many people have tried – and for good reason!

Not only did I hike the long route up onto Powderface Ridge from the east, but I continued up through the snow in a southerly direction along the ridgeline, past the summit.  Turning around, I retraced my steps along the ridge, before dropping down off the ridge to the road on the west side.  Next I hiked all the way southwards down the road to the Elbow Valley, then eastwards up the valley highway to Rainy Pass, before finally biking down the eastern slopes back to the car – a crazy trip of over twenty seven kilometers.

This was not the expected option, so I failed to position a second bike below the west side of the ridge.  This would have avoided a long downhill forced march along Powderface Trail road.  Nevertheless I enjoyed my adventure, and I’m not complaining.

I had underestimated the depth of snow still lying in the trees and on the open, exposed slopes of Powderface Ridge.  My original plan was to continue along the summit ridge until I could drop down directly to the Rainy Pass summit to the south of the ridge.  But the open ridge led to a large forested mountainside with snow still deep in amongst the trees.  I was already sinking to my knees in open drifts, and I knew that by dropping into the trees I would put myself in danger of getting stuck high on these mountainsides.  So this is why I had to retrace my steps along the ridge.

There is a tiny pool of water at the trail junction on the ridge, which made a good reflection.  However, the light was flat today.  Far to the north I could see clear skies, but they never made it southwards.

Although my approach route from the car, along Powderface Creek, was snow-free lower down, the trail soon became snow covered, and I was only able to continue up onto the ridge thanks to previous hikers having packed down the snow, making it walkable. These footprints continued up the first tree-covered eastern slopes of the ridge, where the snow was deep.  But this person (and their dog) stopped at the first lower open slopes of the ridge.  So as I climbed the final slopes to the summit I was making new tracks.  Luckily I only sank in a few inches.  My snow shoes would have been handy but I managed without them.


It was enjoyable walking right along the very top of the long ridge, with steep cliffs dropping away to the east and sweeping slopes to the west, with the long serrated edge of Nihahi Ridge along the western horizon, cut by dozens of avalanche paths.

The summer hiking trail up the ridge follows a lower contour on the sweeping open slopes to the west of the summit, before dropping over the ridge and down into the forested eastern side.  This exit from the ridge was firmly closed today, thanks to a huge snowdrift which extended a good ten feet out into thin air along the eastern ridgeline.  And it was a safe bet that the trail in the trees would be totally impassable, even if I could have figured out how to get down onto it.  This volume of snow up here was a surprise to me.  I seem to be surprised every May at the amount of snow still lying in the mountains.

I met my first hikers as I returned along the ridge through the trees – an older couple with a dog.  They were clearly seasoned hikers.  The only other people I saw on the trail were a couple of guys out for a run, racing down the slippery, steep western slopes in sneakers.  I half expected to find one of them with a broken leg somewhere down the trail.

Once on the road, it was a straightforward hike of about ten kilometres down to the Elbow Valley and then up to Rainy Pass.  Powderface Trail is a gravel road, with packed mud.  A handful of vehicles passed by as I made my way down the pretty little valley leading to the wide Elbow Valley with the Elbow River running through open gravel flats, beneath the cliffs of Forgetmenot Ridge. 

It was a bit of a slog up the highway to my hidden bike on Rainy Pass, but then a quick four kilometre cruise back to the car.  On the pass I could look up to the high ridgeline which I had been strolling along a few hours previously.  It seemed very remote, and there was no obvious route down off the ridge.  So, while it made for a lot of hiking, my selected route was the safest one on a day when summer still seemed a very long way off.

Here at Powderface picnic area, there were well over a dozen vehicles, and there would be no solitude up that creek this afternoon.

So now I feel as if I know Powderface Ridge perhaps better than I really need to!

Statistics
Powderface Ridge
Sun. 27 May
Total Dist.	23.0 km (hike) +   4.6 km (bike) = 27.6 km
Height Gain	2,250 ft. (trail) +     500 ft. (road) = 2,750 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,250 ft.
Time	6 hrs. 42 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     7.18 am Ridge:            9.01 am Summit:         9.57 am Far end:       10.30 am Road:           11.36 am Rainy Pass:    1.42 pm Ret. to car:     2.00 pm	Start Temp:    + 1 C Finish Temp:  + 10 C Mostly overcast, flat light.  Sun never fully breaks through.  No wind.

Triumphant Trio

Mon. 21 May:  Triumphant Trio

Our adventures continue towards their fourth decade!  Sporadically, since 1983, my two hiking colleagues, J and R, and I, have explored the Canadian Rockies together.  Some of these outings now seem legendary (or possibly foolhardy!).  Today we added another grand trip to our outdoor resumes.

The previous night, after my long bike ride up the Kananaskis Highway towards the Highwood Pass, I camped at Cataract Creek.  Since this was the Victoria Day long weekend, I had expected a lively campsite.  It was almost deserted.  I fell asleep to the sounds of the rushing creek, instead of the shouts of late night party-goers.

This morning I was on the road early, traveling the twisting, gravel forestry road as it climbed Wilkinson Pass, the snow still drifted beside the stream.  High above me to the left were the snow-rimmed cliffs of Plateau Mountain.  Turning east on Hwy 532 I rattled up the rocky road to the summit of the highway, known as “The Hump”, and parked beside the tiny lake.

From here I had a bird’s eye view eastwards, where the narrow road winds its way down to the valley far below.  Soon I could see a car approaching up the Pass.  My hiking buddies had arrived.

Today’s target for this famous hiking trio was the area south of Hwy 532 called the Windy Peak Hills.  This series of ridges rises and dips southwards to Windy Peak itself, a distant snow-covered hilltop.  The scenery is immediately spectacular, not least because one reaches a superb ridge-top viewpoint with the minimum of effort.  All the work is done in the ups and downs between the four high points.  Some of these dips looked a little disconcerting today, but we made good progress along the route.

The third (and most spectacular) summit gave this author a chance to try and fall off a thin protruding arm of rock – in the interests of a perfect photo.  By the time we had sweated up to the fourth summit, a nicely shaped “top”, we had done enough.  Windy Peak, plastered with deep snow, lay above us, but separated from us by forested slopes clogged with snow drifts.

What views!  The Livingstone Range to the south, lines of snowy peaks along the BC border to the west, Hailstone Butte and its lonely lookout building directly to the north, and the spectacular shapes of Sentinel Peak and Mt. Burke behind.  Far off to the northeast, across the foothills and prairies, lay the skyscrapers of Calgary.  Directly below us to the east, shining in the sun, were green valleys and a hidden lake.

Earlier in our hike, we had been aware of the constant buzzing of off-road vehicles far below in the valley.  Then suddenly there was silence, except for the sound of the wind in the sturdy trees gripping the ridge-tops.

These trees also harbored that tiny menace, the tick.  J found one on his toque and then he spotted another one on the back of my trouser leg.  So we all stopped and did a good inspection of our clothing!


On the positive side, the early Spring wild-flowers were just appearing.  The delicate blue/purple prairie crocuses were starting to sprout up out of the grass, and were opening up as the sun rose in the sky, to reveal their bright yellow centres.

The wind started to pick up, and the clouds were building to the west.  As we dropped rapidly down to The Hump, we congratulated ourselves on yet another successful – if not famous – outing.  Here’s hoping that the triumphant trio has more adventures ahead of us.

Statistics
Windy Peak Hills
Mon. 21 May
Total Dist.	8.5 km (hike)
Height Gain	1,850 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,149 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 32 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     8.50 am Peak 4:         11.50 am Ret. to car:     2.22 pm	Start Temp:    + 2 C Finish Temp:  + 11 C Mix of sun and lots of cloud.  Wind picks up towards end.

Free Advice

Sun. 20 May:  Free Advice

What more can I say?  Just this:  if any bike-riding reader of my Blog has only one day to spend in the Canadian Rockies, sometime before the winter gate opens on June 15^th, consider this as an alternative to all the usual places.

Drive up the Highwood Valley to the winter gate, and bike up the Kananaskis Highway #40 as far as you can get before running into snow.  Start early.  There you will discover an enchanted world of snow-capped peaks, white tailed deer, rushing rivers, and you will have it all to yourself.

On my two previous attempts I had run into snow after only a few kilometres.  Today I cycled over 30 kilometres up towards the Highwood Pass - the highest paved highway in Canada – before finally hitting the snow.  I then returned down the same road back to the winter gate.

I was out all day.  It took more than four hours of steady progress up the road, never very steep but often requiring a zig-zag approach to the steady up-hill gradient.  I stopped for a break at Lantern Creek, trailhead for the Picklejar Lakes.  A little further along the road, the snow started to appear on each side, and just before Mt. Lipsett picnic area, the road was partially covered.  The picnic area itself was drifted in.  Just around the next corner, where the highway crosses over Storm Creek for the second time, my progress was finally halted.  The Pass lay just a few kilometres up the avalanche-prone valley ahead.

Now the fun began.  In fact, I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a bike ride more – and for a good reason.  For most of the 31 kilometre return journey, I whizzed down the steady slopes as fast as my wheels would turn, with absolutely no effort at all!

Not that I was in a hurry.  I enjoyed leisurely stops at Storm Creek (beside the snow drifts), Mist Creek (above the swirling Highwood River), and Fitzsimmons Creek (in the warm sunshine by the dangerous river crossing).  Along the way I had passed only a handful of other cyclists (maybe less than a dozen people) on a perfect weekend day.

During my eight hour adventure, a cloudless sky had partially clouded over, and sub-zero temperatures had soared to over 20 degrees C.

Take my advice:  grab a road bike, and enjoy this paradise yourself – but only until June 15th!

Statistics
Kananaskis Highway 40
Sun. 20 May
Total Dist.	63.0 km (bike)
Height Gain	1,690 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,645 ft.
Time	8 hrs. 02 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:      7.40 am End of road: 12.13 pm Ret. to car:     3.42 pm	Start Temp:   - 1 C Finish Temp: + 20 C Cloudless =>slow cloud build-up.  Slight breeze only.

Snowshoe Snapshot

Sat. 12 May:  Snowshoe Snapshot

Photographers Unite!   Today I answered the call for a photo from a certain mountain viewpoint in deepest Kananaskis Country.  This request for the picture of Mt. Murray came from the author of a popular snow-shoeing guidebook, who is working on the next volume.

The weather promised to be perfect.  I knew that, even in May, there’d be plenty of snow in the Smith-Dorrien corridor, so it was an ideal first outing for my Jeep Liberty.

At this time of year, they close off the Chester Lake trails and parking area, to prevent trail damage during the Spring melt (and also perhaps to avoid bear encounters in this grizzly-popular area).  So I parked across the road in the Burstall Creek parking area and sneaked past the “no entry” tape to gain access to the snowshoe trails up the side of the Smith-Dorrien valley.

What really surprised me was that the snow was hard-packed the whole way up the trail.  I had worried that I might sink up to my knees in soft snow at every step.  Instead, I simply hiked up the hill wearing my MICROspikes for added traction.

This is not a spectacular hike.  The trail runs mostly through the trees.  However, there are some good views of Mt. Chester and, across the valley, the twin peaks of Mt. Murray.  The viewpoint itself is simply a partial clearing in the trees.  Nevertheless, I snapped away eagerly, to give my author colleague plenty of choices.  Here the snow was still several feet deep, and yet it still held my weight.

Since I had brought my snowshoes along, I strapped them on for the return journey, which was uneventful.  It’s “between seasons” up there in the mountains.  Although there is still plenty of snow, everyone is ready for it to melt so the hiking season can get started.  For anyone seeing my photo of Mt. Murray in the latest snowshoe guide, it would give the impression of a perfect winter scene, not a warm day in Spring. 

It was a short trip, but none the less enjoyable as it had allowed me to find another way to share my own passion for the outdoors - and it was an opportunity to inflict my scenery photos on the luckless reader!

Statistics
Mt. Murray Viewpoint
Sat. 12 May
Total Dist.	4.0 km (hike) + 3.6  km  (‘shoe) = 7.6 km
Height Gain	600 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,900 ft.
Time	2 hrs. 23 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike: 7.54 am Viewpoint:      8.58 am Ret. to car:   10.17 am	Start Temp:  + 3 C End Temp:  +11 C Cloudless, no wind

The Sheep Valley

Fri. 4 May:  The Sheep Valley Road

How do you write something new about a place you know so well?  Such a place is the Sheep Valley, and in particular the road beyond the winter gate.  At this time of year the gate is still closed, yet it is snow-free all the way to the end of the road, a distance of about eighteen kilometres from the gate.

My usual early start was delayed today owing to the little matter of picking up my new Jeep Liberty – which I promptly parked in the garage in favor of my old Hyundai!  I guess I didn’t want to start a new relationship with the Jeep by throwing a bike in the back of the car.

There was only one other vehicle at the winter gate, despite this being a sunny Friday.  There was nothing new about my route, but no less enjoyable for that. The scenery is spectacular, the undulating road makes for a good bike ride, and there is no traffic.  Well, that was not strictly true today.  There were two or three vehicles parked along the road, with special access permits in their windows allowing various university students to study the ground squirrels.  This has been going on for several years, and so by now there must be a wealth of accumulated knowledge of these little critters.

Along the road there was also a large herd of bighorn sheep.  They were content to remain where they were as I biked past.

At the far western end of the road, a trail leads westwards up through the trees.  This is the Sheep River trail, which connects hikers to the Elbow Valley, but which requires several river crossings along the way.  This first section of the trail, beyond the access gate, was still snow covered, and I suspect that it would still be too early in the year to make much progress along that road.  It runs beneath the northern face of Gibraltar Mountain, a grand sight.

An old trailer was parked at the end of the road.  It had a permit in the window as well, allowing two trappers to live up there during the winter.  It would be a lonely place in the cold and the snow.  Nobody was resident today.

The return journey, although not all downhill, does have some enjoyable speedy sections.  I stopped at Indian Oils picnic area and biked down the fire road to Tiger Jaw Falls, where the Sheep River makes a sharp turn under the bridge.  Further along the road, I passed a young couple with their kids, one in a stroller.  The dad was photographing the bighorn sheep.  I think they must have been staying at the University of Calgary cabin, hidden behind the trees at Gorge Creek.  Just up the road from there was the Bighorn picnic area – an appropriate name!

All too quickly I was back at the car.  I drove round the Sandy McNabb campsite, just opened for the season, and there were already a handful of campers in residence.  In just over a week, the peaceful Sheep Valley will be a noisy place again, just as soon as the winter gate is swung open.

 

Statistics
The Sheep Valley Road
Fri. 4 May
Total Dist.	35.0 km (bike) +   1.0 km (hike) = 36.0 km
Height Gain	660 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,330 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 38 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:    12.43 pm Gorge Ck Rd: 1.30 pm End of road:   2.27 pm Tiger Jaw:      3.10 pm Ret. to car:     4.21 pm	Start Temp:   + 12 C Finish Temp: + 15 C Scattered cloud, increasing sunshine, light W breeze