Hiking in Kananaskis (10/5/2012)

Friday: I am proposing a car pool departure from Edmonton at approximately 5:15pm hopefully from the south side. Exact car pool location is TBD and will be based on drivers and participants. Ideally we can meet at a participants house on the south side and leave from there. I expect to arrive at the hostel by 10pm at the latest. You can cook a supper upon arrival, we can stop for supper en route, eat supper before, or bring a ‘bag supper’ to eat on the way. Either works for me.

Saturday: I would like to hike what is known as the Birdwood Traverse. Given this hike contains sections of off-trail hiking and routefinding, should there be too much snow, I will switch to another hike most likely Mt Allan. This will be a big day of hiking but also requiring a drive to the trailhead located on the Smith Dorrien road which is a gravel road. Given the shorter daylight hours, I will enforce an early departure of no later than 7:30am. Here are the details:

Distance: 20km traverse with car shuttle
Net elevation gain: 620m
Total elevation gain: 940m
Trailhead Elevation 1865m
Smuts Pass Elevation: 2335m
Birdwood Pass Elevation: 2460m
Burstall Pass Elevation: 2380m

This will be a long day, but we will hit many Kananaskis classics. Hiking in a counter-clockwise loop, we will head up one valley and down another (Commonwealth and Burstall, respectively). In between we will cross four passes: Smuts Pass, High Col, Birdwood Pass, and Burstall Pass. We'll see the 'giants', Mt. Smuts (2938m) and Snow Peak (2865m), and cross the northwest ridge of Mt. Birdwood, which is a Kananaskis landmark. The crux of the traverse is the trail-less portion beneath Birdwood's west face. Routefinding across mostly open terrain will be required. Also note that we will have a cold and rocky creek crossing and swampy area to contend with right at the beginning of the hike. Water shoes, extra socks and towel will be essential.

Sunday: I would like to hike Pocaterra Ridge which is near the Highwood Pass area. Here are the details:

Distance: 9 km
Elevation gain: 550m
Cumulative gain: about 1036m

Pocaterra Ridge is a very scenic ridge walk when traveling from north to south. I plan to start in the north at Valley View Trail at Little Highwood Pass, travel south up on the ridge, connect onto the trail, and exit in the south at Highwood Pass parking lot. This will involve a car shuffle.

Monday: Given our drive back home, I chose Mt Lipsett as it will take us to a mountain summit and the suggested hiking time is 3.5 to 5 hours only. Here are the details:

Elevation: 2570m
Elevation Gain: 705m
Distance: about 9km

We will be hiking a reclaimed road gradually through the forested southeast ridge of Mt. Lipsett. Once we breakout above the trees, the old road is left behind and we will forge a more direct line north. An almost level area precedes the summit, just over a kilometre southwest of the much higher Mist Mountain. The views of Mist are exceptional. But we will also have great views of Highwood Ridge, Grizzly Ridge and Odlum Ridge. There will be a drop to a saddle and another short gain to a lower summit (0.8 km). We may linger here for awhile taking it all in.

Food: We will be staying at the HI hostel which has kitchen facilities. I propose we share our supper on both Saturday and Sunday evenings either by potluck or a preplanned meal i.e. spaghetti, tacos. Breakfast should be on your own. Choose something that works well in the morning. I tend to eat bagels, fruit, oatmeal, nothing fancy but something full of energy. Lunches will be done on the trail so bring food that works well for this. Snacks are a good thing too. I would like to stop for supper on Monday before arriving back home.

Payment & Registration: Aside from gas and food money, this trip will have a cost. For those wanting to attend, you will need to sign up onto the wait list first then submit your payment directly to me. I can accept personal cheques mailed to me or payment made to my paypal account which is shawcharm@Yahoo.ca. Please send me an email advising you sent your payment so I can watch for it. Once payment has been received, I will move you onto the confirmed list. Unfortunately I cannot accept any other method of payment. I am willing to take a maximum of 6 people.