Outdoor Video Magazine

Length: 30.8km
Time: 8 hours (including an hour on the summit and a VERY slow descent)
Elevation Gain: 1600m
Difficulty: Normal ascent, easy scramble no exposure. Alternative descent, moderate scrambling. Some worrying sections!!
Rating: 8.5/10
Overview: A long boring approach (12km) to a very fine, easy scramble with stunning views of surrounding peaks and the Jasper valleys. At least the approach keeps away the crowds who would otherwise flood a gorgeous peak like this.

With just a single free day on my weekends recently due to work, I couldn’t resist the pull of the mountains any longer. A day trip it was to be. And since I was psyched about our recent decision to form a team for the 2009 Full Moon in June Adventure Race, and we were thinking about starting our training for it, it was decided our trip should be big. Pyramid Mountain has long been a peak I’ve wanted to bag….it has such great presence on your drive into Jasper on Highway 16…and such a gorgeous profile (you can really see how it got it’s name).

Normaly the approach to this scramble is done on mountain bike, it being a 12km fire road, and I would totally recommend this. However, I am currently suffering from a broken hand, so riding is out of the question. So we decided to run.

It took just over an hour and a half to reach the end of the fire road. And it was less painful than i thought, for the 800m elevation gain. The view of the summit ahead of us was inspiring though…but it only comes into view for the last few minutes!! The rest is fairly mindless trees. Next is a steep, steep slope of broken rock and vegetation as you pick a route up to the obvious ridge. Once you crest this ridge, you realise why you’re hear. Stunning views await. From here the ascent is slow going over large quartzite boulders. A broken hand definitely slowed me on this part. There is no exposure or difficult climbing though, just slow picking a route through a jumbled mess. It definitely doesn’t feel tedious though, the anticipation of the summit and the views on both sides are more than enough to compensate the tired legs. The summit actually came quicker than we expected (for once!).

It doesn’t disappoint. Especially since the microwave repeater tower was removed off the top (there is just a concrete base left now). Mt Robson is visible in stunning profile, towering above everything. Beautiful blue lakes dot the Athabasca valley, and Roche Miette can be seen guarding the gateway to the praries.

I’m never one to back track, and Ian suggested an alternative descent briefly mentioned in Kane’s book. Something about taking the south east ridge, and things will eventually work out ok. Great! So we tried it (bearing in mind we lacked a map. awesome preperation with scoping out the route). The ridge down was fine, and took us to saddle with a steep scree leading off south, in the direction of a small tarn we had seen on the way up. The way we want to go. So off we went. At first some sweet scree running, the slope quickly became steeper than anticipated, and the scree shallowed to thin loose stuff over rock. Nasty. The descent became tedious as we went one at a time due to the huge rock hazard we were all kicking up. finding safety before the next person started down the terrain trap. The descent then turned into traversing, as we followed the top of a cliff band round to the next ridge.
Larger rocks, with a tendency to slide, made the way interesting. Especially with running shoes on. There was also a slightly sketchy section where I lost my cool, steep loose scree 5m above a funnel over a cliff. Height unknown, but definitely far and fatal. The others crossed fine, and it took me a while to pluck up courage and follow suit. Although uncertain if a fall here would have had momentum to take you over the edge, I got it in my head that it would. Anyway, difficulty over come, we now had a view down to our lake and eventually back to the fire road. What a lake though, gorgeous. The going remained slow as head-sized boulders formed loose, annoying talus all the whole way down. Then a final cliff band (easily descended if you find the right spots), and we were at the lake. Easy going from now on!! Nice meadow type scenery took us down and back to the fire road, where all that remained was a hideous 12km downhill run on hard, hard ground. I was in such pain on return, but an immediate did in Pyramid Lake did wonders to rejuvenate me. Quite the day.

On return to Edmonton, Ian’s quick look at a map verified we had actually taken the south-west ridge…and gone a way totally not mentioned in the book. I think we were a little lucky that we were actually able to descend that way. It was interesting and scenic, but definitely very slow and a little dangerous with the rock fall hazard.

Time: 2 Days
Elevation Gain: 700m+
Technical Difficulty: A little tricky on descent for a beginner, especially if you come down the stream.
Avalanche Terrain: ATES 1 (referring to just the trail)
Rating: 7/10
Done: March 2008

So this was to be my first (of hopefully many) overnight ski tours, and was actually organised as a beginner ACC (Alpine Club of Canada) trip. The plan was to head up to Maccarib Pass, that looks down into Tonquin Valley and the Ramparts, camp for the night, then head out the next day after some yo-yo skiing in the vicinity of the pass.

The trail starts on the ski road to Marmot Basin, and is clearly sign-posted. From the car park you can take a trail on either side of the stream (Portal Creek); they meet up in a few hundred metres, where they keep to the right of the stream during the whole ascent. It’s not uncommon for this trail to be really icy and crappy later in the season, so it is sometimes advisable to head right up the stream bed itself, even if it’s only so you know where the holes are on your way down, when taking the stream is definitely the better option in my opinion.

After a long uphill section, the trail eventually flattens out at tree-level and the views open up as you cross the base of a number of avalanche paths in a very scenic valley. Portal Creek campground is located just after this section, as Maccarib Pass itself comes into view. Heading on towards the pass great views in all directions allow you to start checking out the skiing potential. No huge lines…but lots of good options for some gentler runs admist stunning scenery. One final slog takes you up to the pass, from where you are rewarded with a stunning glimpse of the Ramparts. We made our way a short way down the other side of the pass to camp. Be warned that as you descend the pass you are actually in a terrain trap for any avalanche slide from your left. A good idea not to pitch camp right there!

The weather for us was a cloudy, snow fest on day 1. Views were very limited, and skiing was ultra difficult in the flat light as we tried a few runs in late afternoon. Snow persisted overnight, and we awoke to a stunning blue sky powder day that provided a gorgeous back drop for some truly memorable runs. The ski out was fine without skins the whole way down…but a lot of double poleing for the long flat sections. Coming down the creek provided some interesting skiing that made a fun way to finish off the trip.

Length: 44km
Time: 3 days
Elevation gain: 1380m
Difficulty: Moderate (in good conditions, harder in snow!!)
Rating: 9/10

So the Thanksgiving weekend is another great oppurtunity to escape to the mountains for 3 days, if only to avoid the turkey. This time, I was on a University of Alberta Outdoors Club trip to the Skyline Trail in Jasper National Park. After much confusion and careful organising by VP of the club, Ian Curran, 10 people remained on the trip. It was very important that we knew the capabilities and preparedness of the people we had on this trip, as we knew tackling the Skyline in October would be quite the undertaking, given the recent snowfall. The decision was made that all group members should carry snowshoes.

I think this is a GREAT time of year to do the normally busy and over-used Skyline trail. We didn’t expect to see anyone else on the trail, and we hoped that the huge expanses of rock above the treeline would look a lot prettier than the do in summer, given the recent snow. The downside of doing it this time of year, is missing out on the gorgeous alpine meadows and flowers.

We set off from Edmonton around 5ish, and after a quick pitstop at the super-express-gourmet-fastfood restaurant that is Wendy’s in Edson (that is sarcasm. Don’t ever stop there. It took nearly an hour of waiting, and the only entertainment to pass the time was admiring the skill of the staff who had one person to take the orders, and another person whose only observable job was to knock the orders over as they became ready.) we arrived at the campground in Jasper at 10pm for a few beers and a not so early night.

Day 1 - Trailhead to Snowbowl - 12km

We hiked this trail from North to South, to reduce the total elevation gain. After dropping one car off at the Northern traihead on Maligne Lake road, we all headed to Maligne Lake where we would start our hike. After much faffing (I’ve decided that time to get ready increases proportional to number of people squared, although in theory it should take 10 people no longer than one!!) we ready to start hiking at around noon. We started off with 1cm or so of snow on the trail already. The trail winds through spruce and pine forest past some pretty lakes, gaining elevation only gradually, for the first 5km to Evelyn Campground.

After an extended lunch stop (Ian needed to have a full on cooked affair) we were ready to climb the switchbacks to the first pass. This climb wasn’t too bad at all, and we quickly gained elevation and arrived at Little Shovel campground at 8km, where your first views of snowy peaks and valleys open up. It really was looking like skiing season was here! We were now in a good few inches of snow, and as we pressed on up the gradual incline to the pass it quickly deepened to a good foot of snow. The luring ascent to Sunset Peak on the right of the pass caught my eye, and I suggested a quick sidetrip. With three of us capable of leading the group, we decided to split the group into two as not everyone was feeling up to the rather strenuous elevation gain to the top of Sunset Peak. A quick game of rock-paper-scissors determined I was the poor soul who would lead half the group to the campsite, while the others would take the sidetrip. A well worthwhile one from the sound of it, you can ascend the first ridge to the summit from well before the pass, and then drop down a second ridge that brings you out on top of the pass where you can rejoin the trail. The views (from the photos they showed me!) looked fantastic.

Meanwhile, my group bust out the snowshoes as we headed over the pass and down into the snowbowl. A very apt name on this particular day. Gorgeous sun and a stiff breeze provided excellent conditions to enjoy the wintery terrain and stunning vistas in all directions. We reached Snowbowl Campground at 12km, and set up camp. Boxed wine and backcountry cooking provided the entertainment for the rest of the evening.

Day 2 - Snowbowl to Watchtower (skyline aborted) - 12km

One of the group was struggling with the cold and the extra effort the snowshoeing with a big backpack was putting on her, so it was decided the group would again split into two. Ian and Nicole would head out via Watchtower and the rest of us, led by me, would try and finish the Skyline. My group got a (slightly) earlier start at 9.30am (despite the first people being up at 7am…again the person squared law applies to the getting ready time). A rather dark, threatening sky provided an awesome backdrop to sun-lit snowy peaks, and we plodded on towards Big Shovel Pass at 17.5km. The time we were making was pretty bad, and I began to doubt we would have time to make it all the way to Tekarra Campground at 30km. Especially as we still had the Notch, the hardeest part of the trail, still in our way. As we crested the pass in extreme winds, I had my first view of the Notch. It looked impossibly steep, and very, very snow clad. With a large cornice at the top. I didn’t like the look of it at all. Anyway, we had a quick and cold lunch, and then headed on toward Curator Lake through some barren, rocky ground. The wind by now was getting incredibly strong, and the smaller members of the group were having trouble staying vertical! As the wind got stronger, and I had more time to contemplate the Notch, I realised to go on would be foolish. The group wasn’t strong enough to make it over the Notch to the next campground, and the thought of falling short and having to camp out in the exposed ridge beyond the Notch in gale force winds was not very attractive. Not to mention the avalanche risk on the Notch itself..it looked pretty sketchy to me. After a quick discussion we decided to head out via Watchtower too. A steep climb up to Watchtower Pass, and we soon had a view down the picturesque Watchtower Basin. With excess time on our hands now, we decided to frollick in the snow for an hour or so, before heading on to Watchtower Campground, where we joined soon afterwards by Ian and Nicole. The group was reunited.

Very wet snow conditions were worsened when it started to rain, and people retired to bed early. 6 of us squeezed into a Tarn 3 to play several hours of cards.

Day 3 - Watchtower CG to Maligne Lake Road - 10km

When I awoke in the morning, I discovered the rain had turned to 4 inches of snow over night, and everything was frozen solid. A temperature somewhere between -5C and -10C coupled with the rain the night before meant people had to resort to licking tent poles to get them to collapse, and I had to spend nearly 10m de-icing the bear hanger before we could get our food down.

Because we were exiting the trail in the middle of where our two cars were parked, 3 of us went on ahead to get the road first so we could hitchhike and get the cars for when everyone else arrived. The 10km out was a fast, but enjoyable hike along a pretty trail. The fresh snow really added to the gorgeous view of the impressive wall formed by the Colin Range that dominated most of the view ahead. Arriving at the trailhead at around 12.30m, we were suprised to find we had apparently travelled back in time from winter to autumn. It was warm, sunny, dry and there was no snow on the ground for the first time in 3 days. The trees were even still yellow.

It didn’t take me long to get picked up, and we were soon all on our way to Miette hotsprings for the last day of the season.

Good times.

Time: 5-7 hours (just hiking time from book) - 11 hours total for us!
Elevation Gain: 1500m
Highest Point: 2580m
Difficulty: Moderate
Scariness: 1/3
Map: Not really needed
Book: Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies - Alan Kane
Trailhead: Morro Slabs. just East of the bridge over the Athabasca River on Highway 16, a few kilometers East of Snaring River campground.

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This is a LONG day’s scramble with considerable vertical gain and NO water along the way. The terrain is variable and interesting, the views good, and I would definitely recommend it if you’re feeling up to the distance.

Starting of on the obvious Overlander trail (which allows mountain bikes) the hike initially contours the side of the mountain sticking fairly flat for around 35-50mins. Keep an eye out for the first drainage you cross (a dry stoney creek bed probably) and this is where you turn left off the obvious trail and find a fairly well beaten track that will take you up the mountain proper. Starting through brush and then eventually a large burned area, the trail quickly steepens and will never really let off until the summit now. You follow the edge of a cool canyon for some of the way, and apparently there is a waterfall if you follow it all the way to end. When you’re up above the first small cliff band, hang right and follow the base of crags along to the ridge above the next drainage area. From here it’s essential to pick up the fairly obvious and well trodden trail again (marked with cairns and pink/orange flagging tape) and follow it up to the start of the scrambling.

Here is the ‘crux’ according to Alan Kane, but I have to say the ‘5m chimmney” is not really is difficult as it sounds. With little/no exposure and some good holds it won’t cause any problems. If it does it can easily be by-passed via an easy line to the right where there was even some webbing for hand-support when I was there.

From here an obvious trail leads up to the right, following a fairly steep drop on your righthand side. This bit sketched me out a bit, especially coming down. The trail was dry and loose with dirt and some rock, and a slip could have been far from amusing. Don’t let me fool you though, this part was still easy (I’m just a wuss!). You could take a more rocky route than this in parts if you fancied scrambling some more.

Topping out above the rock, you’re back in spruce again (by a cairn with some big horn horns). The trail now follows the ridge crest through the trees and is well marked with ornage flagging tape the whole way. As you approach the tree-line there are some fun places for some slab-bouldering (see video).

From here to the summit is an enjoyable slog up talus, across scree and up some easy rock scrambling (you can usually find a trail if you prefer, ot a harder rock-line if you want!). Don’t be fooled by thinkign your near the top until you are looking down in every direction…Hawk has on of the worst most consistent false summits I’ve seen!

From the top there are great views of the surrounding mountains including Mt Robson, Pyramid, Edith Cavell, and some other HUGE ones further away that I didn’t recognise. lol. Check out the crazy coloured pounds the far side of Highway 16 too. We saw a bear sat on the train tracks from this vantage point too, and the resulting bear jam. Put a quick note in the summit register, feel free to add a plug for outdoorvm.com haha, and begin your descent the way you came.

By this stage we were all pretty short of water, it being around 30C out. I had gone through 3 litres already. 3 of the 4 of us dosed up on Ibuprofren to ready our aging knees for the descent (yes, I’m only 24).

Once you get back to the canyon, there is an optional detour if you find a safe descent into it and want a bit of fun. We all LOVED this part of the descent. We followed the canyon bottom the WHOLE way back to the Overlander trail. There are numerous small (up to 4m) would-be waterfalls (it was all dry) that make great fun to downclimb. Some involved walking down trees, some had to be jumped, some downclimbed in VERY interesting fashion by certain members of the group. See video! This whole part provided great comic relief to a tired and sore group of people.

Back on the Overlander, it’s nearly over with just a quick, fast, flat march back to the car. Interestingly enough I predicted 11 hours for our trip before we set off. We were back a few seconds under 11 hours 1 minute. Pretty good eh?

Another good route description is given by dowclimbing.com along with some good photos, but not a patch on mine of course

Distance: 21km to Berg Lake, one way.
Elevation: 862m - 1646m.
Effort: Medium-high to get to Berg Lake in one day.
Maps: NTS 83 E/3, Mt Robson Park 1:125,000
Rating: 9.5/10 If you include trip to Robson and Mist Glacier.

A stunning trail featuring close-up glacier action, the Canadian Rockies Highest Peak (a staggering 2.5 vertical kilometres above the trail), blue-blue lakes, and more than one fantastic waterfall. Also some pretty forest in the lower sections.

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Well finally, I’m ready to write about my latest backpacking trip, done May Long Weekend. I went to Mt Robson Provincial Park, just over the border in BC with Lucas and Rob (from NAIT Outdoors Club). The plan was to do the Berg Lake trail, despite rumours of trail closure due to rockfall and deep snow (in MAY? yeah, I know). Forecast was for rain all over all parts of the Rockies. Oh well.

We left Edmonton after work on the Friday, and made it to the trail head for around 11pm. We decided to hot-foot it to Kinney Lake, the first campground, under cover of darkness. We made the 7km in around an hour and twenty mins, its a mostly flat easy trail. The rain held off just about the whole way there.

Day 1

The next morning I awoke to a gorgeous view of Kinney Lake, the first time I’ve been here. Despite the grey clouds and threatening rain, the lake was still a lovely colour. We had a lesiurely 10am start on the trail, intending to take it easy on our way to Berg Lake that day. We checked out some areas for potential climbing on the way (I didn’t like the look of the rock though). At the start of the Valley of a Thousand Falls (12km) the trail was closed. Apparently it was just closed for when they were actually working though, it didn’t look like anyone was. So we naughtily jumped the sign. Falls of the Pool were first on our list. Wow. They are gorgeous. The sun even came out for the first time while we checked them out. A short 10min detour of the trail, across a rather loose scree slope (see video!).

We then continued up the very steep and long switch backs of the notoriously aerobic part of the trail. It wasn’t really that bad though. 500 vertical metres in 4.5km to give you an idea. Nearing the top of the climb you come across the impressive Emperor Falls. I prefer the Falls of the Pool for aesthetics though. We hit our first snow around here, and it wasn’t long before we got the snowshoes out.

Continuing on we had our first view of a shoulder of Mt Robson as the cloud cleared up, and we broke into the broad, flat, New Zealand-esque valley of the upper-robson river. We soon had fantastic views of Mist Glacier, the closest glacier just before Berg Lake. Berg Glacier quickly followed into view. Both these superb glaciers (the scary Mist and the pretty Berg) come RIGHT down to the valley bottom, and Mist Glacier was begging to be explored.

We detoured of trail and had a CHILLY ford of the Robson River (in Crocs, see video). We then hiked right along the ridge of glacial morraine, enjoying stunning vistas of the frozen Berg Lake, and the two glaciers. Awesome. We then had to return to the trail, via another even colder ford. This time the rain had returned, with a strong icy wind and an ambient temperature of 0C. Not a time to be getting your feet wet in a river that has chunks of ice floating down. I will remember this as one of the least enjoyable of the trip (hence the lack of video footage) as I quickly lost feeling in my fingers and toes…for a good 45mins.

We hurried our freezing extremities the last few kilometres to Hargreaves Shelter, a beautifully situated cabin (no beds, and not for sleeping). We quickly got a fire going, and soon discovered the stunning view had from the deck of the shelter. The clouds all but cleared the summit of Mt Robson, and wow was it amazing.

Day 2
We had another leisurely start (12) as we waited for the minor blizzard to cease, and the few inches of snow to start melting. Today we had it in mind to go as far as possible on the Snowbird Pass trail.

After an hour and a half or so of easy hiking, the toe of Robson Glacier came into view, and we descended from the trail to investigate (safely!). As you can see from the video, it makes for some impressive footage.

Carrying on up the valley, we now stuck to the very edge of the glacier for easier hiking. But the snow-covered nature of the glacier, and the avalanche risk from above meant we were unable to get all the way to Snowbird. We did have the fortune of a beautiful day opening up, treating us to a virtually cloudless sky for the whole afternoon. Lucas discovered that suncream really IS necessary when on a glacier in the sun.

By the time we made it back to Berg Lake, Mt Robson was COMPLETELY clear of any sort of cloud, a rare occurrence i’m told. It remained clear the rest of the night AND the following day until we had actually driven out of sight of it. How lucky. We, however, ran out of SLR batteries, video camera batteries, and compact camera batteries!!! Major error. We did capture some footage though. Oh and I almost forgot, we also got great shots of a HUGE massive avalanche of the side of Rearguard Mountain.

Day 3
We headed home, and made it back to the car from Berg Lake in around 6 hours. Including all stops (one for nearly an hour). So it really is possible to do this trail, with a nice day for side trips, in a 3-day weekend. From Edmonton.

Length: 5km (one way)
Time: 1.5-2.5 hours round trip.
Details: Jasper Parks Office
Date Done: March 20th 2007
Effort: Low
Rating: 5/10
Map: Not needed.

I was in Jasper this March with some friends of my from England. We did a little tour of the Rockies, doing some snowshoeing, downhill skiing, and I wanted to introduce them to cross-country skiing too. But despite fresh snow in Marmot (again), Jasper townsite was decidedly bare of snow. After enquiring at the Parks Office, I figured the Beaver Lake/Summit Lake trail would be our best bet to get some snow, seeing as it is halfway along the Maligne Lake road right at the end of Medicine Lake, and so is considerably higher than town.

Still the trail was in terrible shape (mostly thanks to the hikers that walk all over the ski tracks). The trail was essentially ice in the shape of human footprints. My friends really appreciated the sport of cross-coutnry skiing as they struggled up the ice on rented skis, falling at regular intervals, and sliding backwards constantly. I was fairing just as badly. I was just beginning to regret it, and was going to turn back, when we came out to Beaver Lake. Hah, we could ski over an inch of fresh snow on the gloriously flat lake. Finally they realised skiing can be fun! I would recommend skiing along the lake even if trail conditions are good, its nice to be surronded by the mountains for a stretch. At the end of the lake we rejoined the trail, and conditions got better as less hikers had made it this far and the trail flattened out. We sped along to Summit Lake at the end of the trail, 5km from the car park.

The trail itself (in good conditions) would make an OK ski, with some nice views when you break out of the trees at the two lakes. The views are nice, but not incredible, and the trail is quite interesting with a lot of ups and downs, but ultimately should be 100% ski-able even for a beginner. You have to cross just one avalanche path nearing the end of the trail. So the risk is minimal overall.

Coming back down was nice, you can double pole most of the way, and it makes for a nice quick return. We were lucky enough to get a sudden snow-storm that blew in to coat the nasty icy sections with 2 inches of fresh snow ready for the return trip. It softened the falls for my English friends on some of the faster downhill sections!