Snow Peak

Kananaskis, AB, Canada

23 September 2017

With Richard

 

Easy hike with fantastic snow landscapes

 

Snow Peak is a great objective for the shoulder season when there’s snow at higher elevations but avalanche risk is still low. Richard and I had both hiked the popular Burstall pass trail several times before so we knew the approach was fun and scenic. Although it was a Saturday and we only started our trip at 8 AM, there were hardly any other hikers around on the excellent trail that goes up to the pass.

What started as a pretty grey morning without any sunshine turned into a fantastic day with blue skies and lots of sunshine once we climbed high enough to leave the clouds behind us. At the pass we turned right and steadily gained elevation on the snow-covered south slopes of the peak. Breathtaking views opened up with wafts of fast-moving clouds forming a neat inversion phenomenon below us.

After a nice break at the top the clouds starting to move in again – time to head back down. When we got back to Burstall Pass we were really surprised by the number of people that had shown up all of a sudden. It was really busy with dozens of hiking groups making their way up the trail to the pass! I’m not sure how many went on to climb Snow Peak, but the rest of the trail on our way back was just full of people. Good thing we started relatively early today!

Both Richard and I really enjoyed this outing. When avalanche hazard is low, Snow Peak makes for a relatively short and straightforward trip with easy approach and great views. Perfect!

Elevation:

2787 m  (my GPS)

Elevation gain:

1050 m

Time:

6.0 h

Distance:

19.2 km

Difficulty level:

Easy (Kane), T3 (SAC)

Reference:

Nugara

Personal rating:

4 (out of 5)

DOWNLOAD ROUTE (GPX FILE)

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The start of the hike at Mud Lake.
Lots of snow and fog at Burstall Pass. Need to climb higher for some views!
After a heads-down tramp up the steady south slopes of Snow Peak we finally emerge from the clouds.
Looks and feels like heaven to me!
The lone hiker we met now appears minuscule in the giant swirl of clouds.
A look towards Burstall Pass below us, where the weather is clearing up as well.
Much of the ascent from the pass looks like this.
View east down the valley where we came from. Burstall Peak on the right.
Clouds still surround Mount Birdwood to the NE, which is one of the few technical climbs in the area (not a scramble).
Richard on the final summit ridge.
These snow slopes aren’t very steep, but can be avalanche-prone if the snowpack is unstable. [Photo by Richard]
The clouds move in again as we take our lunch break at the summit.
Heading back down the summit ridge.
A look through the clouds into BC in the west.
Back at Burstall Pass.
On our way back. The small peak in the centre here is Commonwealth Peak.
Close-up of Commonwealth Peak.
The impressive Mount Robertson (L) and Robertson Glacier are on the south side of the valley.

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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