Mount Buller

Hike Name: Mount Buller

Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: ~10 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,805 m

Elevation Gain: ~1000 m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Bennett

Time to Summit: ~2 hrs

Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: Buller Pass Trail Parking


Additional Info:
We hiked up Mount Buller after the snow finally melted enough for us to venture a little deeper into the mountains this year. We didn't encounter any snow, but the wind/clouds made it a little chilly - perhaps I was too ambitious in my short-shorts! We initially planned to do Mount Sparrowhawk, as recently there was a photo posted in a Facebook group of the summit block relatively snow-free, but after a snowfall during the week, we concluded it was probably a no-go now. We settled on Mount Buller as we drove by Sparrowhawk, and I am so happy we did. Getting a view of Sparrowhawk from the summit showed us that we would not have made it to the top that day. We had a lovely day on Buller! There is some route finding & bushwhacking after you leave the Buller Pass Trail and once you hit the saddle, you continue up to the right to reach the summit. There are some slabs to scramble up near the summit which may make some uncomfortable but we found that navigating them was alright.

 Almost at the summit, view looking to the NW up the Spray Reservoir

Bean & Bass!

 Starting to descend

 Bam.

Tent Ridge (Summer)

Hike Name: Tent Ridge

Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 10.4 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,535 m

Elevation Gain: 640 m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Zach, Zach, Travis

Time to Summit: 2:00

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Parking lot on the right side of the road halfway to Mt. Shark Trailhead

Getting There:
Head south on Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40) from the Trans Canada (Hwy 1). Take the turnoff toward the Kananaskis Lakes/Smith-Dorrien. Take the Smith Dorrien and then turn at the Mt. Engadine Lodge turnoff. Continue past the lodge, and up the road. You will come across a parking area on the right.
We ski-toured here in 2018.

Additional Info:
I was lucky enough to catch more larches this season up on tent ridge! There was some snow on the top but not enough for microspikes.. soon... winter is coming!

 The bowl before attaining the ridge

Looking towards the Spray Reservoir 

 Zach and Zach take on winter at 2500m!

 The horseshoe

 Great view of some of these big ol mountains.

Some friends back at the car! A cow moose and her baby.

Mount Sparrowhawk

Hike Name: Mount Sparrowhawk
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 10km (RT)

Altitude: 3,121 m

Elevation Gain: 1350m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Julia, Travis

Time to Summit: 3:30

Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: Sparrowhawk parking area

Getting There:

From the town of Canmore, head towards the Nordic center and take the gravel road, the Smith Dorrien (742), about half-way down the Spray Reservoir. Park at the Sparrowhawk parking area.

You can also come from Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40), taking the turn towards the Kananaskis Lakes then turning onto the Smith Dorrien (742). If you are coming from Calgary, it is faster through Canmore.

Additional Info:
We did this as a sunset hike after-work. It was definitely an ambitious goal but we ended up doing it no problem. We left the car at 5 PM, summited at 8:30 PM, took a half-hour long break to admire the view, and then returned to the car by 11:15 PM.

The views were unreal from the summit, true 360 degrees. You could easily see Assiniboine, and even Joffre off in the distance to the south. On a clearer day I'm sure you could see Calgary.

We followed a GPS track that I had on my phone, which was someone's bushwhack trail. Apparently there is a better trail - I am assuming you should go up Read's Tower trail instead, and branch off towards Sparrowhawk at the bottom of the bowl. The bushwhack wasn't a problem on the way up but we weren't sure how to tackle the bushwhack in the dark on the way down, so we decided to follow the creek down to the road. It eventually turned into a canyon, so we followed the creek/canyon on the skiier's right, and made it back to the road in no time.

Julia coming up the final scramble behind the summit block

 Unreal summit view

 Travis on the summit ridge

 The three mountains just left of center that are taller than the rest - Eon, Aye and Assiniboine (left to right)

Mountain shadows as the sun sets behind.. 

 Beautiful sunset shot

Me on Sparrowhawk

Mount Lawrence Grassi

Hike Name: Mount Lawrence Grassi
Activity: Scrambling

Distance: 10 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,682 m

Elevation Gain: 1000m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Whit

Time to Summit: 2.5 hours

Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: Goat Creek Parking Lot

Getting There:

From the town of Canmore, follow the signs toward the Nordic Center. Continue past the Nordic Center towards the Spray Reservoir. Eventually, you will be climbing up a hill on a gravel road that gets pretty dusty. You'll come across a parking lot on the right side of the road called "Goat Creek Day Use Area".

Additional Info:
I named this in the Canmore area because Ha-Ling, Miner's Peak, and EEOR are categorized under Canmore and they all have the same trailhead.

After you go up the hill and cross the reservoir, instead of going up the Ha Ling trail, continue along the reservoir for approximately 20 minutes until you hit a big cairn, you can't miss it. Head up this trail, following the flagging/cairns. The path up is quite obvious. Near the top there is a lot of loose rock on slabs that make balance and sure-footing difficult. 

 Near-summit photo looking South-East

  Looking down the spine

Me just after we passed the treeline 

The Rimwall

Hike Name: The Rimwall
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 7.5 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,700 m

Elevation Gain: 1134 m (Total. We had to down climb and re-gain elevation at one point.)

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Rachel, Mark, Stephen, Eric, Travis

Time to Summit: 3 hours

Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: Spurling Creek

Getting There:

From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), turn off towards the Nordic Center and continue on this road past the Goat Creek Parking lot and along the Spray Reservoir. Pull over on either side of the road. 

Additional Info:
We hiked too close to Wind Pass on the main trail so after we broke off of the main trail, we ended up on some cliff bands. We made it through some of them, but eventually had to downclimb a bit to the bottom of a cliff. Once we got around the cliff to a passable section, the path up was obvious. We didn't see anyone on this hike, its always awesome to have an entire mountain to yourselves!

Everyone on the summit of the Rimwall and the Three Sisters in the background

Looking back at the Spray Reservoir

Admiring the sheer drop!

Ribbon Lake (Overnight)

Hike Name: Ribbon Lake Campground
Activity: Backcountry Camping/Backpacking

Total Distance: 23.5 km

# Nights: 1

Date: September 19-20, 2015

Area: Kananaskis

Crew: Ben, Kristen, Ariana
Trailhead: Began at Buller Mountain Day Use Area (Spray Reservoir side) and left a car at the Ribbon Creek Parking area in Kananaskis Village 

Route: 
Day 1 - Ribbon Lake via Buller Pass (10.5 km)
Night 1 - Stay at Ribbon lake Back Country Campground
Day 2 - Ribbon lake to Ribbon Creek parking via Ribbon Falls (13 km)

Ben heading up to Buller Pass

 Ariana, Kristen, and Ben after Buller pass (day 1)

 Sunset at Ribbon Lake (day 1)

Kristen coming down on the chains (day 2)

 The three siblings coming down on the chains (day 2)

Windtower

Hike Name: Windtower
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 10 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,682 m

Elevation Gain: 969 m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Julia

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Spurling Creek

Getting There:
From the town of Canmore, follow the signs toward the Nordic Center. Continue past the Nordic Center towards the Spray Reservoir. Continue along this road until you reach Spurling Creek. Park on the right side of the road. The hike starts across the road.

Additional Info:
Take the trail up to Windy Pass. From here, continue around the bowl. Follow the cairns as they will lead you up Windtower. There are nice views of the Spray Reservoir behind you as you climb.
The summit is windy, as advertised.

 The view behind of the Spray Reservoir. Weird weather was coming in, so we moved quickly.

You can see me in my blue jacket on the left. View of the Rimwall and 3 sisters.

Julia on the summit of Windtower

Ha Ling

Hike Name: Ha Ling
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling
Distance: 6 km (RT)
Altitude: 2,408 m
Elevation Gain: 737m
Area: Bow Valley (Canmore)
Crew: Steph and Jeevan
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)
Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes
Trailhead: Goat Creek Day Use Area

Getting There:

From the town of Canmore, follow the signs toward the Nordic Center. Continue past the Nordic Center towards the Spray Reservoir. Eventually, you will be climbing up a hill on a gravel road that gets pretty dusty. You'll come across a parking lot on the right side of the road called "Goat Creek Day Use Area". Stop your car. Turn off the ignition. Get your hikers on.

Additional Info:
Cross the street and head up the hill. Cross the river and you will see the trail go up through the trees in front of you. From here, you will begin switchbacks and eventually pop up above the tree line with a 10-20 minute hike/scramble left to the top!

Jeevan and Steph on Ha Ling - August 18, 2013

I have done this hike on 3 different occasions.


Trip #2:
Crew: Julia and Praveen
Date: July 27, 2014
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)


Trip #3:
Crew: Ben
Date: January 2, 2016
Time to Summit: 1:30
Continued onto Miner's Peak.


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