Gunnery Mountain

Kananaskis, Canada

31 March 2017

With Wen

 

Nice hiking & snowshoeing loop

 

I’m not sure why this little peak is called a “mountain”, but apparently “Gunnery Mountain” is the unofficial name that locals use for this small southern outlier of Holy Cross Mountain in the Highwood Junction area. Regardless, Wen and I were looking for something short in the shoulder season, and Gunnery fit the bill quite well.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mountain that’s easier to access. We parked on the side of the road (highway 541 from Longview) and right at the start of the small SW ridge. A faint trail goes straight up this ridge, starting literally a few metres from where you park your car. Views are pretty decent throughout, especially of the dramatic folds and cliffs of nearby Holy Cross Mountain that are accentuated by layers of snow clinging on to the steep west face.

After taking a break on the broad summit we headed north towards the small saddle between Gunnery and the SE ridge of Holy Cross. The snow got quite deep in this section and we were glad we had our snowshoes with us. A short stretch of bushwhacking through dense forest to get to the bottom of the saddle was probably the most unpleasant part of the day, but I’m not sure if we were a bit off track here – there might be a better route somewhere nearby.

From the saddle we followed a faint trail along a drainage down the east side (we took off our snowshoes about half-way down), then veered northeast to reach semi-open slopes to link up with the Gunnery Creek trail, the access route to Holy Cross Mountain. A pleasant walk down the trail back to the highway concluded a sunny day of hiking in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

 

Elevation:

2083 m  (my GPS)

Elevation gain:

750 m

Time:

6.5 h

Distance:

7.6 km

Difficulty level:

Easy (Kane), T3 (SAC)

Reference:

Daffern

Personal rating:

3 (out of 5)

 

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Early morning view of the Front Ranges as seen from near Longview. The big peak is Mount Burke.
Heading up the lower SW rib of Gunnery Mountain.
A picture-perfect syncline comes into view – this is the southern outlier of Holy Cross Mountain.
Where the Foothills meet the Front Ranges.
Raspberry Ridge with the low-lying Hell’s Ridge in the foreground.
To the west is Junction Mountain, another great winter or shoulder season objective (far right).
Here’s a zoom in of Junction Mountain.
The big peaks of the High Rock Range further west are pretty much off-limits now.
Perfect conditions today for a winter hike!
Not too much snow on the ascent, so no need for snowshoes.
Looking back down towards the High River.
Almost at the summit!
The snow is getting deeper as we pass through the trees.
At the summit of Gunnery Mountain. We donned our snowshoes here for the first part of the descent down the north side.
The syncline of Holy Cross Mountain as seen from the summit.
Steep cliffs hold a frozen waterfall with blue ice on the south side.
Easy hiking down open slopes towards the small valley where the Gunnery Creek trail is located.
Looking back up from the trail: Gunnery Mountain is the small rise on the left.

In this section

Kananaskis Allsmoke Mountain Ben’s Hill Blue Ridge Bluerock Mountain Bull Creek Hills Cat Creek Hills & Stony Ridge Channel Ridge Commonwealth Peak Compression Ridge Cox Hill Coyote Hills Cummings Ridge East End of Rundle Etherington-Baril Ridge (Three Cairns) Forgetmenot Ridge & Mountain Gilligan Peak Glasgow North & Garriochmill Peak Green Mountain Gunnery Mountain Ha Ling Peak & Miner’s Peak Hailstone Butte, Sentinel Peak & Iron Creek Mountain Heart Mountain Hell’s Ridge Highwood Peak Hill of the Flowers Holy Cross Mountain Hood, Mount Horton Hill & Horton Ridge Iyarhe Ipan, Swany’s Ridge & Quirk Ridge Jumpingpound Mountain Kidd South, Mount Link Hill & Vents Ridge Little Lougheed Lookout Range to Mount Burke Lusk Ridge Mesa Butte Missinglink Mountain Mist Mountain Mist Ridge Moose Mountain Mount Barwell Mount Bogart Mount Bryant Mount Burns East Peak Mount Denny & Mount Potts Mount Dyson Mount Evan-Thomas Mount French & Mount Jellicoe Mount Head Mount Howard Mount James Walker Mount Lorette & Skogan Peak Mount Lougheed I Mount Mann Mount McPhail Mount Muir Mount Quirk Mount Remus Mustang Hills Odlum Ridge Old Baldy Mountain Opal Ridge South Opal Ridge Traverse Packenham Junior Pasque Mountain Pigeon Mountain Pocaterra Ridge Powderface Ridge Powderface Ridge (south route) Prairie Mountain Raspberry Ridge Red Peak Red Ridge Running Rain Peak & Mount Odlum Serendipity Peak & Patterson’s Peak Seventy Buck & Eagle Hill Ship’s Prow Mountain Shunga-la-she & Jägermeister Peak Snow Peak Storelk Mountain Strawberry Hills The Orphan Tower, The Volcano Ridge Wasootch Peak Traverse Wasootch Ridge Windtower Windy Point Ridge & Gleason Ridge Yates Mountain Zephyr Creek Hills

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