Darl58
Active member
I was back in Banff to visit my friends last week and decided to hit a few peaks while there.
Mt Temple is the highest peak in the Lake Louise area, new snow the day before was going to make it a little slick but decided to go for it, since the forecast looked perfect!
The most dangerous part of scrambling in the Canadian Rockies is the rock fall and there was no shortage of that while I was there. It snowed on the peaks the 2nd day I was there which is beautiful but made for hard footing, especially when descending.
I was hiking solo this day Aug 19th, as my friend had surgery and couldn’t join me. Upon arriving at Moraine Lake which is where the start of the hike is, I had to hold up until there were 4 of us due to Grizzly activity in the area. Finally a couple climbers and a couple from Spain arrived and we could hike in to Sentinel Pass together at which point we would all go different ways.
The hike in is a gradual switchback hike and conversation made it seem like nothing. The climber gave me some nice beta for my climb and warned me of areas that climbers get pulled in to and can’t get out of due to the steepness and rock falls..you could hear and see rock slides coming down
with the melting snow up above..
After arriving at Sentinel pass, we all parted ways and I started my scree climb up solo. At one point I had to hug tight to a rock face while rocks came crashing down from above as another party ascended up. After that I had enough space to climb at a steady pace and stayed out of any other debris falling.
Three places you have to do some scrambling up the rock faces or chimneys which I consider fun but some hikers may not…after arriving at the first plateau, I could at least see the traverse that would take me to the snow covered summit.
The loose scree and fresh snow didn’t make for great footing…snow made it slippery and had to kick step in quite a bit, the scree would slide on you.
I caught up with a solo guy and two sisters and tagged along with the girls to the summit as we were climbing the same speed. The views were so amazing I had to stop for pictures…and to catch my breath a couple times. I felt pretty strong as I had been hiking for 4 days prior, each going a little higher altitude.
The summit was buried in deep snow and we were post-holing across the top, making a nice deep trough for the later climbers to follow.
At the summit had pics taken and snacked while enjoying the views as one lady pointed out the various peaks and areas to me..(should of taken notes for my pics)…The climb down was a little harder trying not to slide in the snow or scree as more people were coming up and it was not much space for fall..
Perfect day hiking in Banff National Park and another peak added to my list!
link to pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/BanffAug09MtTemple?feat=directlink
Will have couple more TR's as I organize all the pics....
Mt Temple is the highest peak in the Lake Louise area, new snow the day before was going to make it a little slick but decided to go for it, since the forecast looked perfect!
The most dangerous part of scrambling in the Canadian Rockies is the rock fall and there was no shortage of that while I was there. It snowed on the peaks the 2nd day I was there which is beautiful but made for hard footing, especially when descending.
I was hiking solo this day Aug 19th, as my friend had surgery and couldn’t join me. Upon arriving at Moraine Lake which is where the start of the hike is, I had to hold up until there were 4 of us due to Grizzly activity in the area. Finally a couple climbers and a couple from Spain arrived and we could hike in to Sentinel Pass together at which point we would all go different ways.
The hike in is a gradual switchback hike and conversation made it seem like nothing. The climber gave me some nice beta for my climb and warned me of areas that climbers get pulled in to and can’t get out of due to the steepness and rock falls..you could hear and see rock slides coming down
with the melting snow up above..
After arriving at Sentinel pass, we all parted ways and I started my scree climb up solo. At one point I had to hug tight to a rock face while rocks came crashing down from above as another party ascended up. After that I had enough space to climb at a steady pace and stayed out of any other debris falling.
Three places you have to do some scrambling up the rock faces or chimneys which I consider fun but some hikers may not…after arriving at the first plateau, I could at least see the traverse that would take me to the snow covered summit.
The loose scree and fresh snow didn’t make for great footing…snow made it slippery and had to kick step in quite a bit, the scree would slide on you.
I caught up with a solo guy and two sisters and tagged along with the girls to the summit as we were climbing the same speed. The views were so amazing I had to stop for pictures…and to catch my breath a couple times. I felt pretty strong as I had been hiking for 4 days prior, each going a little higher altitude.
The summit was buried in deep snow and we were post-holing across the top, making a nice deep trough for the later climbers to follow.
At the summit had pics taken and snacked while enjoying the views as one lady pointed out the various peaks and areas to me..(should of taken notes for my pics)…The climb down was a little harder trying not to slide in the snow or scree as more people were coming up and it was not much space for fall..
Perfect day hiking in Banff National Park and another peak added to my list!
link to pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/BanffAug09MtTemple?feat=directlink
Will have couple more TR's as I organize all the pics....
