The Passionate Hiker: Snowdrift Ridge

Sun. 16 June: Snowdrift Ridge

The map calls this rugged peak "Nameless Ridge", but such a fine mountain ridge should have a proper name.

While it’s nice to know that not every geographical feature in the Canadian Rockies has yet been named, this one seemed an obvious omission. This mountain rises from the Highwood Valley floor, at a bend in the beautiful Highway 40, about fifteen kilometres south of the Highwood Pass. Starting off as a steep grassy ridge, higher up it becomes bare and rocky, continuing to rise to a narrow, exposed summit, at over 8,100 ft. It would seem more spectacular if it did not sit directly below the gigantic, vertical snow-encrusted face of Mist Mountain (10,302 ft.).

Yet, despite its rugged contour, the journey to the summit is no more than an easy stroll, with a tiny bit of scree work as you approach the top. This circular trail starts in a wide clearing beside the highway, entering the woods and immediately climbing. After a short while the old forestry road is joined, now just an overgrown, narrow trail along the hillsides. After crossing a lively stream, and ducking beneath the canopy of evergreens, which grew all along the path, I reached a bend in the trail. Here it headed quite steeply up the hillsides until finally breaking free into a wide, grassy valley.

This looked to be prime bear country, so I made my presence known. This proved to be a very good idea. Higher up the valley, I found a very recent paw print of a small black bear which might just have been on my route before it heard me yelling. When I reached the col at the head of the valley I could see its paw prints heading down the snowdrifts to the valley below, perhaps in a hurry to escape this noisy human. An encounter avoided.

The upper sections of the valley had long snowdrifts lying in the streambed. Above me the clouds were already forming in the blue sky, around the mountain tops. The bare grassy slopes led to a col between the nameless ridge and the spectacular southern face of Mist Mountain, which fittingly was half hidden in a swirling cloud.

Now I turned to my right for the steep but straightforward ascent to the ridge top. As I climbed, the sun appeared over the ridge, blinding my view up the rocky scree slope. Then suddenly I was at the top, and was slightly shocked to find myself immediately on the summit of a slightly exposed, narrow ridge.

What a viewpoint. I had good views of the ascent route up Mist Mountain, consisting of a steep valley, still choked by deep snow. This was our route on the successful ascent of Mist Mountain in 1984. The summit was hidden, but the all-round views, of an alpine mountain scene, were breath-taking. Yet this rugged place had been reached in such an easy manner.

I followed Nameless Ridge for its entire length. Apart from a few small uphills, it was generally downhill, giving continuously different views of the peaks and valleys. It quickly widened out to give easy walking on rocky ground. Further along the ridge, huge snowdrifts were still lying along the eastern edge of the mountain. A little further along, the trees came up to the ridgeline, and the snow was plastered to ten or more feet depth between the trees. This snow might not completely disappear before the first winter storms later this year.

As I strolled along the ridge, I considered what I would name it, if I had the power to do so. My final choice, for this article, was Snowdrift Ridge, reflecting those spectacular drifts along the eastern edges of the mountain. Not that my vote will count!

Now I found myself on a steep, grassy slope, which was covered with crocuses and other colorful wild-flowers. I stayed on this line all the way to the treeline far below. From here to the road I thrashed my way down through the unbroken forest until I came out onto the highway. I was looking for the old forestry road, but there was no clear sign of the path. So I played it safe and returned along the pleasant, grassy edges of the main road, for about two kilometres back to the car.

Although the winter gate had only opened the previous day, it was a busy scene, with cyclists and vehicles. A long procession of about a hundred BMWs whizzed by, making this look like a busy major highway in rush hour. As they disappeared up the Pass, the valley returned to relative peace.

The clouds had been building all morning, and I was glad to be safely down off the high ridges before the afternoon thunder-showers which had been forecast. Of course, if I HAD been struck by lightning up there, then it would have made the job of naming this nameless ridge much easier – Passionate Hiker Ridge!

Statistics:

Total Distance: 6.5 km (hike)

Height Gain: 2,044 ft.

Max. Elev.: 8,172 ft.

Time on Trail: 4 hrs. 23 mins.

Start hike: 7.02 am

Col: 8.26 am

Top: 9.02 am

Treeline: 10.26 am

Road: 10.53 am

Ret. to car: 11.25 am

Temp: +3C to +16 C